Harry Potter and the E'Chode
by All Mighty Terrestrial
Summary: Done! What do you have when magical boundaries fail, dark wizards rise, a busload of muggles crashes, and Harry goes missing? Problems. Takes place 3 yrs. after bk.7 tried my hardest not to make a Mary Sue.
1. Prologue

**Disclaimer:** HP and Crew belong to J.K. Rowling and all Affiliated Corporate Types. If any or all of them sue because I misappropriated their property, they can become the proud owners of a five dollar bill, a meal card, a pile of dirty laundry, and my roommate, because that's all I have. 

**Author's Note (IMPORTANT!): ** I have seen the movie. Twice. That's pretty much it. I got the rest of my info from the _Harry Potter Lexicon _(great reference site, by the way), a grouchy HP fanatic (who answered questions after complaining and telling me to read the books), and other people's fanfic (thanks, guys!) So if I got it wrong, I apologize.

THIS IS THE FUN PART! HAVE YOUR FLAMETHROWERS AT THE READY, BECAUSE I EXPECT NOTHING LESS THAN HUGE ATOMIC FIREBALLS FROM EACH AND EVERY ONE OF YOU! (But if you actually like it, hey, even better. I just want the FEEDBACK.)

(Yes, I **_will _**try and update this regularly.)

Prologue 

The wind blew across the walls and between the towers of Hogwarts, shrieking and sending drafts down the halls. Professor Dumbledore was in his office, because it had a highly effective fireplace and because the manuscript he was carefully going over was too fragile to be moved very much or very far. He lifted his head and set his magnifying glass aside when he heard sharp, business-like steps approaching the door. The latest addition to the Ministry of Magic's Department of Magical Catastrophes blew into his office, her brown hair ringing her head like a halo. "Hermoine Granger," he said, standing up. 

"Any luck?" she said, marching forward, and seating herself briskly on one of the plush office chairs. 

"Not as of yet. How bad is it?" he asked, concern on his face. "It's getting critical. Two more Acromantulas escaped through the holes just today, and there's a report of a basilisk somewhere around Hogsmeade." 

"It won't get far in this cold," Dumbledore said, sitting down. 

"But it's all falling apart, can't you see that? Every department's running itself ragged, casting forgetfulness spells, muggle repelling charms, reinforcing magic boundaries, we've got an entire committee making nothing but portkeys with all the traveling the Ministry's been doing trying to keep our world seperate," Hermoine said, her voice pleading, her eyes starting to tear up, her shoulders bent with the strain. 

Dumbledore nodded once. "I've been in here the past few days, going through every manuscript I can think of, looking for answers." 

Hermoine looked up eagerly. "And?" 

Dumbledore shook his head kindly. "I would have sent an owl immediately, you know that." Her face fell. Dumbledore patted her shoulder kindly. "Every citizen of the wizarding world is doing his or her best. You must have faith." 

She sniffed, nodded, and rose to her feet. "Have you heard from Harry?" 

Dumbledore paused. "All he would tell me is that he was looking into a few things on his own." 

Hermoine nodded and walked out a bit more slowly than she came in.

Meanwhile, in a flat on Diagon Alley, a form entangled in bed covers crashed to the floor. The ghost-like figure managed to struggle to its feet and made a lunge for the window. He threw open the curtains and, after a few moments of clawing, freed himself from the pale blue fabric. 

Harry Potter kicked the sheet aside and took deep, calming breaths. The familiar moonlit view out the window helped soothe him, and he smiled a little. After living under the stairs at the Dursley's all those years, having something as ordinary to most people as a window in his room never ceased to amaze him. The pain in his scar, triggered by his nightmare, wasalready fading. 

Falling back on his training, he closed his eyes and tried to fix what little he could recall of the dream in his memory. There had been a doorway, standing alone in darkness… a circle of black robes, with him at the center… something about floating, and stones… and a woman, someone he didn't know but it felt like she fit in somehow. Over all the images was the strong feeling of betrayal. He sighed and rubbed his eyes. That's the trouble with being an Auror. You start to see darkness everywhere, and it becomes harder and harder not to let your suspicion get the better of you. He grinned wryly to himself. If he wasn't careful, he would end up as paranoid as Moody. 

He tossed his sheet back on the bed and sat down on the edge, feeling the springs creak beneath him. He glanced over at his clock, saw that he had only gotten two hours of sleep, and groaned. Still, his ever reasoning mind told him that his scar just wasn't something he could dismiss outright (although his fatigued body had quite a different opinion on the matter). He dutifully sided with his mind and gave his pillow a good-naturedly resigned sigh before crossing the room and picking his shirt off the chair. 

Maybe Ron was still down at the Caldron, he thought as he pullled the shirt over his head. They could talk about it, to give him an idea of what he should do (although something niggling at the back of his mind told him that whatever he decided, he should go through with it quickly). 

"Doorway...black robes...darkness...stones...and a woman, a _strange woman..." _

The servant to Lord Voldemort waited impatiently as the link blathered on. The thing was nothing but a nusiance to the servant. Still, if the servant wanted to get inside Potter's head, the link was the only way to accomplish it. 

"What sort of woman?" the servant asked, absentmindely. 

"She comes by train. Tonight," came the answer. 

"That isn't an answer," the servant said, with an edge of menace. 

"The tool. The tool comes tonight," the link droned on, oblivious to the tone. 

"The tool?" the servant repeated, brushing all items off a nearby table with a sweeping arm and unrolling an old scroll. The servant ran a finger down one column, paused at a certain spot, and looked up again. "Tonight," the servant repeated, rolling up the scroll with a smile.


	2. The Tale of the Muggle

Yikes, a lot of people post every day. I'm kind of curious how much I can put up before someone realizes this is here. Chapter 1. The Tale of the Muggle. 

The woman in question was slouched in a train seat, reading a fantasy novel. Being a muggle and without any wizard relatives, Marie had no direct experience with magic, but with the sheer volume of material she had read, she fancied herself quite the expert. Or at the very least, open to the possibility. 

She was sharing the compartment with two friends. The three of them had decided to take a semester off and see Europe, mostly because her friend Stephanie wanted to. Stephanie had been to England many times before, and Marie went with her because she had never been to Europe and Stephanie did not wish to go alone. Why this was remained somewhat of a mystery to Marie, but she suspected it had something to do with the opportunity to show off her expertise in all things England to someone not in her family (who had been there with her during her other journeys and knew everything she knew). 

Their friend Erin came along because she has a tendency to liven up trips (getting thrown out of the White House by the Secret Service for sneaking off to find a bathroom during a tour being one example of many) and because Erin didn't have to pay for any of it.

Erin fidgeted in her seat on the train until she simply couldn't stand being ignored any longer. She loomed over Marie and said, "Put the book down and back away slowly." 

"Hold on, three more pages," Marie muttered, not bothering to look up. 

"You're getting footprints on the window," Stephanie said indignantly to Marie, standing up and getting her bag from the train rack. 

"What, are we there?" Marie asked as Stephanie stood up, pulling her feet down and peeking out the window. King's Cross Station was sliding silently into view. 

"Why did you think we were stopping?" Erin said with a giggle. 

"I don't know. Track change, or something?" Marie said, dropping the book into her backpack and snapping the flap shut. 

"You're strange, woman," Erin said, getting to her feet. There was a faint, dusty outline of Marie's sneakers on the window. 

"I hope nobody notices that," Stephanie said, staring accusingly at the prints. 

"_It's night. Besides, they've got cleaners and stuff," Marie said, swinging her back pack over one shoulder. Stephanie grunted, not so much because she agreed as because she didn't have the time to argue at the moment. "We're not spending the whole time in London, are we?" Marie asked to change the subject, standing with her feet wide apart so she would not fall over as the train jerked to a stop. _

"Um, no," Stephanie said, opening her bag and rummaging frantically through her belongings. She pulled out her precious itinerary, scribbled on neatly folded notebook paper. "We… are… spending the night here, and going up to Scotland tomorrow. I couldn't get us any connecting tickets today," she said, apologetically. 

"That's fine," Marie said, amused that Stephanie would worry about something as insignificant as that. 

None of the girls would have slept on the train, anyway. Marie would have been awake all night either reading or humming mindlessly to herself, Stephanie would have paced around the compartment double-checking all essential items every five minutes, and Erin would have either spent all night coughing or she would fallen asleep, rolled off the bench, and kept her companions awake with her snoring. 

The girls retrieved their suitcases and took a cab to the hotel. Marie took the room in with a glance as she tossed her backpack on a chair. One bathroom, two beds. I can sleep on the floor, she thought; it won't hurt to play nice person for one night. She took a pillow off one of the beds and pulled her dragon blanket out of her suitcase (where she had stuffed at the station so she wouldn't have to carry it). She kicked off her shoes and curled up on the floor next to the heater, giving her pillow a couple of good punches before resting her head on it. 

"Ooh. Sleep. Pretty sleep," Erin said, collapsing onto one bed. 

Marie made an affirmative noise. Her blanket still smelled like the train, a mixture of worn seat and old coffee. 

"You sure you'll be fine on the floor?" Stephanie asked her. 

"Yep." She pulled the blanket over her head to help keep the heat in and the light out.

It was still dark when Marie awakened. Stephanie's sleep radio was muttering softly while she chomped her teeth, and Erin was lying on her stomach with her ear plugs in, producing a noise similar to what Marie imagined a dragon coughing up a hairball would sound like. 

Marie stood up, wrapped her blanket around herself, and crept over to look out the window. There was a little bit of snow starting to fall, and she smiled. When she was little, she used to sit on her bed in the middle of the night for hours, just looking out the window. There was never anything happening, of course, but everything always looked so different and _magical at night. Especially snow. The light would catch it, and it would flicker like a diamond before it fell into the shadows. All the stores on the street were dark, except for one. A tavern, she guessed, squinting at the sign. "The Leaky Cauldron." Hmm, she thought, leaning forward to study the building more closely._

The door to the place burst open, and a man stumbled out. Marie jumped back and closed the curtain to a crack on instinct. The man was carrying a broom, not the supermarket kind but a much older style, similar to one Marie had seen at a historical site where the employees showed visitors how to shoe horses and make candles out of pig fat. She stared hard at him. He wasn't as old as she had thought at first; the two were about the same age. His face, while young, had maturity to it. He stopped, tossed the broom flat out on the sidewalk and held his hand over it. She didn't know what he was up to, so she moved a little closer to the window for a better view. 

Another young man with the reddest hair she had ever seen in her life came running out after him, pulling on a, cloak? They were definitely arguing about something. The first one pushed him away, and held his hand over the broom. He snapped something at it, and it shot up into his hand. Marie jumped back, startled. Intrigued, she opened the curtains a little wider and got right up next to the glass. The young man jumped up onto the broom and tucked his feet on top of the bristles. It stayed up. "What the…" she whispered softly under her breath. Her mind was spinning. A warlock? Wizard? Sorcerer? Was there a difference? 

"_You're a bloody idiot!" the red-haired one yelled at him, trying to untangle something from his cloak. _

Broom Rider was quicker. He had his wand (?) in his hand and pointed at Red's face before he could finish wiggling his the rest of the way out. Red froze. Broom Rider put his wand back and said something that Red evidently didn't like, but was willing to live with, because Red gave him a pat on the shoulder before he went back inside. 

Broom Rider rearranged himself on the broomstick and looked up. Right at Marie. She thought about diving away from the window right about then, but she knew he had spotted her. It's a little hard to ignore someone wrapped in a turquoise dragon blanket with her forehead and fingers pressed up against the window like a kid in front of a candy shop. She just hoped that her seeing him wasn't important enough to get her turned into a toad. He didn't really _seem mad. He seemed more confused than anything. He lifted up his hand experimentally. She jumped back. He furrowed his brow for a second, and then it dawned on him that she thought he was planning on spelling her. He shook his head with a grin and waved hi. Hi? That's it? Now it was her turn to be confused. He gave the broom a kick-start and took off into the night. _

She stood in front of the window, turning the encounter over in her mind, and finally decided that his leaving her alone made sense. He didn't do anything but fly on a broom, and she didn't think that was a punishable offense under English law. Besides, if she spoke to anyone normal about it they would think she had dreamed it, and anyone magical wouldn't think what she saw was all that strange. And she didn't panic, which made it even less of a problem. Seeing a broom fly had been more a confirmation of something she had hoped was possible ever since she was a little girl rather than a revelation of something new and terrifying. She still couldn't quite understand how the broom had done it, though. Well, magic, but _besides that. _

She stared back down at "The Leaky Caldron." No sign of Red or any more broom wielding people. There _was something strange, though. Everything behind the building had a fuzzy look, and it had nothing to do with the snow. She looked harder. What she saw was a street behind the Caldron that hadn't been there before, its rooftops brushing against the night sky. But she could still see the old view at the same time, like a double exposure from a camera. The only difference was that the new and old views were both solid, as though they both somehow existed in the same time and place. Then it…shifted, and the new street pulled into the old street and vanished. She was impressed, and rightly so. She waited a little to see if it would do it again. However, the street stubbornly refused to do anything further out of the ordinary, so she crept back to her pillow and curled up on the floor, disappointed. _

She knew Stephanie would march around and make sure they got up bright and early the next morning before herding them out to the station, and there would go her opportunity to go down to The Leaky Caldron and find out exactly what she had seen. Now that she knew what was possible, she wanted to learn more, about the disappearing street, about magic, about everything, including Broom Rider. _Especially Broom Rider. She gave a small smile, then snorted to herself as she realized that there was no reason on earth why anyone there would talk to her about anything. She thumped the pillow a couple of times and pulled the blanket over her head. _

"Stupid," she muttered to herself.

A few minutes after Marie closed her eyes, the servant apperated back home and heaved a sigh. There had been no sign of the tool anywhere on Diagon Alley. Still, the trip had not been entirely unsucessful. The man the servant had kidnapped off his broomstick fell to the floor with a thud. He moaned, and the servant gave him a sharp kick in the ribs. He had been more trouble than the servant had expected, but now that he was here the preperations could begin to turn him into the vessel for the reawakening. 

The servant was so preoccupied with planning that it took several moments to realize that the link had partly broken free of the imperius curse and escaped. The servant said a few particularily vile phrases out loud, then took a few calming breaths. The link had all but served his purpose, so the loss was of little consequence. The main priority right now was laying hands on the tool. Once she was subdued, the E'Chode would be within reach.


	3. The Perils of Muggle Transportation

This'll probably be my last update for a while; I'm leaving for Christmas, which means I probably won't have any access to a computer.  Expect lots of updates after the holidays, though.

_Chapter 2.  The Perils of Muggle Transportation._

"It's seven, guys.  Time to get up," Stephanie said as her alarm went off.  

Marie ignored her.  

Erin yelled, "Die, infidel!" 

The light in the bathroom turned on.  Marie winced.  

"Awaken!" Erin called from her bed.  

Marie threw the pillow at her.  

"Hey," Erin said, batting it down and making rustling sounds.   

Marie tucked her arm under her head.  "You fiendish thing, you," Erin announced.  

"Tired," Marie moaned. 

"Well, if you hadn't been up half the night staring out the window," Erin said, hopping to her feet.  

"You saw that?" Marie said, tossing the blanket aside.  

"What were you looking at?" Erin said, giggling.  

"The snow," Marie said, pushing her hair out of her eyes.  

"The snow?" Stephanie's incredulous voice asked from the bathroom.  

"What else would I be looking at?  It's a boring street," Marie said, dragging herself to her feet.  

"It lives!" Erin announced, in response to Marie's rising.  

"Shut up," Marie muttered, getting her clothes out.

When Stephanie said the tickets last night, Marie had no idea that she was referring to _bus_ tickets.  Marie found herself pressed up against the window, watching her breath fog up the glass while Erin and Stephanie hogged the rest of the bench.  Erin was asleep, and the engine on the bus was too loud for Marie to talk to Stephanie, so she just looked out the window at the fallen snow and thought.  I don't know what she thought about, exactly, but I'm certain it involved wizards on broomsticks.  

The bus went over a bump, and she hit her head on the window.  She shook her head slightly to clear the triangles from her vision and rubbed her forehead.  

Stephanie yelled, "Are you okay?" over the bus engine.  

Marie nodded, and looked out the window again.  Something was rippling in the snow.  And it was heading straight toward the bus.  She tapped Stephanie and pointed out the window.  Stephanie craned her neck to see what Marie was pointing at, and looked at her as though she had grown another head.  

"You don't see it?" Marie yelled.  

"See what?" Stephanie yelled back.

It slithered into the road and reared up in front of the bus.  Marie got a glimpse of dark eyes and slimy scales as the driver screamed and slammed on the brakes.  The bus skidded on the icy road, fishtailing as the driver turned the wheel, trying to get the bus back into control.  The bus hit another bump on its right side and started to tip as it slid around, crashing on its side.  Slamming against the ceiling was the last thing Marie remembered as the bus rolled over on its roof into a ditch.

Marie could hear yelling as she drifted back into consciousness.  Rescue people, she thought.  Her head and right shoulder hurt, and she had people lying on top of her, causing pain to spark along her ribcage.  But they'll move, she thought, still half asleep.  She woke up a little more when she felt something long, skinny, and muscular slip across her ankles.  

The voices formed into words.  "There it is!"   

"Catch it!"  

"Oh, my God, the Muggles!"  

Her mind groggily tried to make sense of the word "muggle" as she attempted to pull herself out from under the pile.  

There was a collective gasp.  "She's awake…"  

"Don't move!  Whatever you do, don't move!"  

A smooth black ribbon slipped down past her left shoulder and into her field of vision.  

The voices were all yelling together now.  "Tear it…"  

"Cast a…"  

"It'll tip, you…"  

The snake-like creature was coiling itself right in front of her.  The voices rose to a pitch approximating banshees having a catfight.  The thing struck at her, lightning fast.  She pushed up and back with her left arm to get away from it, head and ribs pounding, and found herself looking into its eyes.  It looked ancient, vicious, and very pleased with itself.  The voices shrieked, and hushed as though someone had flicked a switch.  The snake thing looked annoyed.  Marie could see feet out of the right corner of her eye sliding quietly over to the broken window.  The snake wasn't paying attention.  Good, she thought.  It reared back like it was going to strike again.  That was not as acceptable to her.  

The rest of the person belonging to the feet peeked in and yelled, "Petrificus Totalus!" waving his wand.  The snake stiffened up and fell over onto its side.  Her savior tossed a towel over its head and dragged it toward the window.  

"What _is that?" Marie asked.  _

He looked at her as though she might bite and said, "Um…" before pulling the snake the rest of the way out.  

Her head was pounding, so she let it thump back down onto the roof.  A few more cautious faces peeked in.  She wondered what she had done to make them all look so nervous.  The heads lifted away slowly, then there was a lot of whispering.  She licked her lips and swallowed, knowing that whatever they were discussing couldn't be good.


	4. Welcome to Hogsmeade

Revised the prologue and chapter 1.  And added this chapter, of course.  Chapter 3. Welcome to Hogsmeade 

Hermoine's report had left the professors of Hogwarts speechless.  

"How _many muggles?" Professor McGonagall managed to ask.  _

"Seventy.  We've managed to find room for most of them at the Three Broomsticks, with a few more in the houses next door," Hermoine said, wiping the grime from her face.  It had taken her and the rest of the basilisk team hours to get everyone out of the bus and settled, even with the help of some of the Hogsmeade citizens.  She still had the fire spell they had used to keep the muggles warm stuck in her head.  

"Why was a _muggle rescue team not sent for?" Snape asked, pressing the tips of his fingers together.  Everyone stared at him.  _

"Leave all those poor muggles to freeze in the snow for hours when we're only minutes away?" Flitwick piped up, a tear starting to form in his eye.  

Dumbledore spoke.  "No muggle help would have been able to get them all to the hospital in time.  This way they are all cared for."  

The rest of the table nodded in understanding.  McGonagal spoke up, "It's good that the muggles are sheltered, of course, though it does complicate things a bit."  

Snape snorted in agreement.  Everyone else sat quietly, thinking about the irony of inviting muggles into wizarding space after working for weeks to keep them out.  

Hermoine cleared her throat.  "None of the wizards looking after the muggles have more than a basic talent for healing.  I was hoping to get someone with a bit more experience.  And also we need someone…"  

"To experiment on the muggle who survived the stare of the basilisk." Snape cut in, with a snide smile.  

Hermoine started, "That's not precisely how I would put it…" but Dumbledore interrupted. 

 "Now, now, there will be plenty of time for quarrelling later."  

"You said you needed professional healers.  Don't you Ministry people usually carry a few around on your dangerous creature hunts?" Madame Hooch said, staring hard with her yellow eyes.  

Hermoine sighed.  "My team is being recalled to the Ministry.  They said they don't have the resources to spare right now."  

Another silence.  Snape said, "So what you're telling us is that the town of Hogsmeade is on its own."  

Hermione nodded.  "That's what it looks like."  

Dumbledore gave a businesslike nod.  "Is anyone here opposed to offering their assistance?"  No one objected.  

"I'm going to need a volunteer to stay here with Hagrid and help look after Hogwarts and the Christmas boarders."  

"I will," Madame Hooch said.  

"Good.  Everyone else, please get whatever supplies you might need and meet in the courtyard as quickly as possible," Dumbledore said, heading for the door.

The group burst into the Three Broomsticks, shaking snow from their clothing.  The floor of the building was completely covered in injured muggles.  

"Good heavens," McGonagal said, pausing as she unwrapped her scarf to stare.  

Hermione was leaning over the bar, busy scribbling a note.  

"Those four, there," she said to McGonagal, pointing to a group in the corner.  She folded the note in half and wrote an address on the back.  "Does anyone have an owl?" she yelled.  

"I'll take it," Flitwick said, grabbing the note and scurrying outside.  A strong gust of wind slammed the door behind him.  

Hermoine continued, "I'm not sure about those two.  One of them seems delirious, the other one's in some sort of shock," pointing to a couple of girls in the middle of the room.  Snape went over.  Hermione took Dumbledore's sleeve.  "The strange muggle's in the storeroom.  I just found out that the healing charms aren't working on her, so she's going to have to recuperate the old fashioned way."  

Very curious, Dumbledore thought to himself.  "I'll look in on her," he responded.  

Hermione called to the room, "The rest of you, find someone who looks like they need you.  I'm going to visit the houses on either side," pulling her hood up and trudging back out into the blowing snow.

Marie was lying on her back alone in the storeroom.  There was a faint light from a lamp on a shelf so she could see, but it wasn't bright enough to bother her.  Her quick injury assessment revealed that she had a lump on her head, a pulled shoulder, bruised ribs and a large slash across the front of her thighs.  

Whatever the woman who patched her up had tried to do with her magic hadn't worked.  The woman kept producing little globes from the tip of her wand, which bounced off whichever part of Marie she aimed at and disappeared.  After a few minutes of that, the woman simply bandaged everything and left in a huff.  

"Not my fault," Marie said to the door after the woman slammed it.  The door, despite its cruel treatment, appeared to have no opinion on the matter.  

The door opened again, and an old man with a long beard came shuffling in.  Marie squinted at the brighter light from the other room, and he smiled and closed the door before pulling up a stool and sitting down.  

"Belinda didn't do a very good job of that, did she?" he said, looking at the slap dash bandaging job.  He pulled some herbs out of his pocket and started grinding them up in a little bowl with a marble stick.  

Marie's curiosity was perked.  "You're not Merlin, are you?" she asked.  

He chuckled.  "No, I'm afraid I'm not quite advanced enough in years for that.  My name is Albus Dumbledore.  And you are?"  

She thought about lying, but didn't really think it would do any good.  

She finally said, "Marie."  

"Marie," he repeated, memorizing it.  

Marie realized she hadn't asked about her friends any of the times someone had looked in on her and felt like an idiot.  

Dumbledore, realizing what she was thinking, said, "Some of them are in worse shape than others, but I believe they are all going to be fine."  

Marie nodded a little and winced when that made the headache worse.  "What was the deal with the snake?  Why was everyone so freaked out?" she asked.  

Dumbledore paused and looked at her.  "The stare of the basilisk brings instant death," he answered quietly.  

"But I'm okay.  Oh," Marie said, understanding finally dawning.  Dumbledore finished his grinding and started unwrapping the bandage around Marie's forehead to put on the poultice.  She wasn't quite sure what to say about the whole situation, and finally settled on asking cautiously, "Is that bad?"  

"It's unusual, certainly.  In all my studies, I've never once come across a case describing an individual who was immune to magic.  The fact that you are a muggle makes it all the more puzzling."  He seemed vaguely amused by it, instead of panicky like the others had been.  That gave her some confidence.  

"Muggles are people who don't have magic," she said, looking for confirmation.  

"Right," he said with a smile, as though she were extraordinarily clever.  

"And this town is all wizards and stuff."  

"Hogsmeade?  Yes."  He finished bandaging and stood up.  

Marie sensed that he had gotten what he came for and was pleased with the result.  "What?" she asked, as he turned back to look at her in the doorway.  

"I once had the privilege to know a young wizard who went on to do great things.  There was a quality in him that I never could put a finger on, a quality that I believe you share." 

"Thanks, I guess."  

He smiled enigmatically, said, "Rest well," and shut the door.  

"Well?" Hermione said, wiping her feet on the doormat as Dumbledore emerged.  

He had surreptitiously cast a few basic spells at the girl.  Not only did she not respond to them, but she also seemed completely unaware of their existence.  "The stories about her strange ability do seem to have some truth to them, but if she's dangerous, I'm a hippogriff," he said.  

Hermoine let out a sigh of relief.  "Good.  One less thing to worry about."  Snape came storming past, rearranging his robe.  Dumbledore's eyes followed him, quizzically.  "One of the girl muggles he was looking after was trying to get up and take charge.  It got so annoying that he put a sleeping spell on her.  Another girl kept calling him "Snapie-poo" and squeezed his bum."  She shuddered and continued, "I certainly _hope it was a __joke."  _

The front door flew open, causing Dumbledore to forget his next comment, and Flitwick stumbled in, sputtering.  Everyone kept staring at him, so he just grabbed the arm of the nearest wizard and dragged him outside.  The rest followed slowly.  

Flitwick led them to an alley next to the post office and pointed.  There was a body lying in the snow.  Professor McGonagal crouched down and felt for a pulse.  She shook her head at the others in response to their questioning eyes.  

"Who is it?" someone in the back asked.  

"I don't know.  His face, it's…" she answered, pushing back the hood for a better look.  The skin on the front of his head had been all but burnt away, leaving a hole.  He hadn't been there long; his body was only lightly dusted in snow.  She noticed the edge of a burn on his back, and she pushed the robe aside to get a better look and gasped.  The group crowded closer.  If there had been any doubt about who would do such a thing, it was swept away by the Dark Mark the spell had branded into the victim's back.


	5. The Dark Side of Magic

Wow!  My first review!  I got so inspired that I decided to post my next chapter right away.  (So it's short.  So what?) Chapter 4.  The Dark Side of Magic 

Hermoine sat in front of the bar at the Three Broomsticks, picking at the well-worn edge.  She had volunteered to take first watch while the other wizards got some rest.  She was exhausted, but seeing that body made it impossible for her to sleep.  

How could this have happened?  You-Know-Who had been utterly destroyed by Harry, and all of his miserable followers rounded up and sent to Azbakan.  There was no one left with the power and desire to do something like this.  She rubbed her forehead, trying to release some of the tension.  That butterbeer on the shelf looked so good to her bloodshot eyes, but she knew if she got into that she would be asleep in no time.  

She felt her frustration mount.  They had looked up and down that alley for any trace of the murdering wizard, but he had simply vanished.  And on top of that, there had been no luck finding out who the poor fellow was, what with the face burnt away and no one in Hogsmeade missing.  

She sighed.  She supposed she would have to send a message to the Ministry in the morning when the post office opened, find out if anyone had reported a missing wizard in London or elsewhere.  She stared listlessly at the bar, watching the wood grain blur and melt together.  

A scraping noise in the storeroom brought her back to alertness.  It could be the muggle moving about.  Then she remembered that with her legs in such bad shape, it would be next to impossible for the muggle to get up by herself.  She grabbed her wand and burst into the storeroom.  There was a cloaked figure standing over the sleeping muggle.  

"Stupefy!" Hermoine cried, waving her wand.  

The figure ducked the spell with ease, and whispered something she didn't catch, which produced a large ball of green fire.  Hermoine dove to the floor just in time.  The green fire completely destroyed the wall behind her, throwing debris everywhere and awakening the rest of the wizards.  The muggles, under the influence of sleeping spells, continued to slumber.  

The cloaked figure tried to grab Marie, but she managed a punch with her good arm.  It wasn't enough to seriously injure the figure, but it did give the other wizards enough time to appear in front of the gaping hole in the wall.  The figure sized up the odds and promptly disaperated.  

"Are you all right?" McGonagal asked the two girls, helping Hermoine up and examining Marie's knuckles, which she was rubbing.  

"I think it might be best for all concerned if Miss Marie and anyone accompanying her were relocated to Hogwarts," Dumbledore said, surveying the damage.

Someone banged loudly on the front door, startling everyone.  

"Who is it?" Snape said nastily, his wand at the ready.  

"Ron Weasley!  Open the door!"  

Hermoine sighed at relief upon hearing the familiar voice; she was worried the owl hadn't made it.  She rushed forward and gave him a hug as he slammed the door and set aside his broom.  His nose and hands were almost as red as his hair.  

"I was worried you weren't going to show," she said.  

"Almost didn't, with the wind.  It's bloody freezing out there," he muttered.  He noticed the grim faces of the other wizards.  "It's gotten worse here since you sent the owl, hasn't it," he said, more a statement than a question.  

He was quickly filled in on all the recent happenings.  When he heard about the dead wizard, he turned so pale that his freckles stood out like ink blots.   

"I can think of one missing wizard," he said softly.  The wizards held their breath as Ron slumped against the wall.  "Harry," he finished, giving the group a tight, worried look.


	6. The Disappearing Wizard

New chapter!  Next one will be up in two days. Chapter 5.  The Disappearing Wizard 

The group stared at Ron as though he had punched them in the gut.  Even Snape, who had no great love for Harry, looked disturbed.  Then all the wizards started talking at once.  

Dumbledore raised his voice above the din and said calmly, "Please, everyone."  The voices hushed.  Then he said to Ron, who had in the interim slumped to the floor, "I want you to tell us exactly what happened.  Try not to leave out any details, no matter how insignificant they might seem."  

Ron swallowed.  "Harry came out to the Caldron the other night.  I had just gotten off work, Olivander's, you know.  He had me sorting all the new wands.  Anyhow, Harry comes in, looking like death himself had gone to work on him.  I got up and helped him sit down, after telling him off about not being in bed, with all the extra work he's been doing now that the borders are all crazy.  He said I was a fine one to be telling him what not to do, since I'm usually the one who goes along with him," he said, with the patented Weasley mischief-making grin.  Then he turned somber again.  "Anyhow, Harry told me that he had another dream, a bad one."  

"Did he give any details?" Flitwick asked, hopefully.  

"No.  But he seemed to think something big was going to happen, and he had to get a move on if he was going to head it off.  Didn't understand most of it.  It was a bit creepy; 'cause most of it didn't sound like something Harry would usually go on about at all.  Then he put down his glass and said he was coming here."  

"To Hogsmeade," Hermoine asked, for clarification.  

"Yeah.  He got his broom and hopped outside.  I followed him out, told him he had lost it and wouldn't be able to handle a broom with the way he was stumbling about."  

Ron paused, momentarily distracted.  Marie had pulled herself to a sitting position and was in front of the hole in the wall, listening.   He was a little leery talking about wizard business in front of a muggle, but Dumbledore prompted, "Then what?"  

"I…I tried to spell him, to keep him from hurting himself.  But he was too quick for that, you know Harry.  Well, to make a long story short, he promised to send an owl to let me know he got in safe.  Then I went back inside.  'Til I showed up here I thought he had just got too busy to write, but when he wasn't with the rest of you…"  Ron's voice trailed off.  

"We've got to go looking for him," Hermoine said decisively.  

Snape laughed harshly.  "Don't be a fool, Ms. Granger."  

She bristled and opened her mouth to give him a tongue lashing, but Snape continued, crossing his arms.  "Allow me to present some difficulties for you.  One, there is an inordinately large area of land between here and Diagon Alley.  Any search would have a low probability of finding a Norwegian Ridgeback in an area that large, much less _one missing Auror.  Difficulty number two," he said, raising an arm to indicate the blanket of blowing snow outside the window.  _

Eyes followed his hand up, and then down as he rested it back in place, crossed over the other one.  

"Difficulty number three.  We're slightly preoccupied at the moment," he said, looking down at the people covering the floor.  "Of course, that's no one's fault but our own.  Isn't that right, Ms. Granger?" he finished.  

Hermoine looked like she had been slapped.  Some of the other wizards were giving Snape dark looks, but no one contradicted him.  

"He's right, Hermoine.  We can't possibly track down Harry in all this," Ron said weakly.  

"But… but we _can't just leave him.  This is __Harry we're talking about," Hermoine protested.  _

Dumbledore raised his hands.  "Please.  Nothing is certain as of yet.  Harry may well be safe and sound, and his owl was the one who got sidetracked.  No sense in everyone getting excited until we know anything for certain one way or another.  We can take no action until the morning, when the post office opens.  Until then, please try and get some sleep.  I don't think even the followers of the Dark Mark would be brazen enough to try twice in one night."  The comforting words sounded hollow even to Dumbledore's ears, but it did have the desired effect of getting everyone to disperse.  

Ron came up to him quietly.  "I've got Pig with me.  I can write something up quick and send it now if you like."  

"Best wait until it gets a little lighter.  The less chance there is of your owl catching someone asleep at his desk, the better our chances of getting a prompt response," Dumbledore responded, patting Ron on the shoulder.

Since most of the floor was taken up, Ron got to his feet and came marching over to Marie's storeroom.  

"Ron," Hermoine said, handing Ron a pillow and blanket.  

He took it, wiping his nose on the back of his hand.  Marie took a hold on the storeroom shelf and pulled herself back to her pillow.  Ron set up his sleep area on the other side of the room.  Marie debated whether or not to tell the two of them she had seen Harry.  But, she reasoned, she really hadn't _seen anything as he left, no suspicious people hanging about, nothing like that.  Bringing it up just rubbed in the fact that he was gone, something she didn't want to remind them of.  Hermoine, having given her bedding to Ron, folded up her cloak as a pillow.  One of the wizards in the other room put out the light, leaving the now one room shop in darkness.  Hermoine sighed, still thinking about Harry.  _

Then, "What's an Auror?" she heard Marie's voice ask quietly.  

"A wizard who hunts down dark wizards," she replied, tired and a little irritated with the question.  Can't she just be a good muggle and stay out of other people's business?  

"Oh, like the F.B.I." Marie said.  

Hermoine smiled despite herself.  "Well, sort of."  

There was a pause.  "Is there anything I can do to help?  Besides take up floor space and attract dark wizards to threaten you all, I mean," Marie asked dryly.  

"You can be quiet so the rest of us can sleep," Ron said tiredly but good-naturedly from the opposite side of the room.  

Hermoine kicked lightly at the direction of Ron's voice as a reminder to be polite, but didn't connect with anything.  She said firmly, "You can concentrate on getting better.  After that, we'll see."  

"'We'll see'.  You sound like my mother," Marie mumbled, getting a laugh of agreement from Ron.  

Hermoine pulled off her shoe and tossed it in Ron's direction.  

"Witch," was his joking response.

The servant's prisoner awoke to find himself strapped to the floor, his dark hair slicked against his forehead with sweat.  

The servant smiled and bent over him.  "I'm so pleased you have decided to join us."  

The prisoner, who was under enough confusion spells to stupefy a small village, could do nothing but slur, "Who're you?"  

The servant smiled and murmured, "All will be revealed in time," before putting the prisoner in a trance with a snap of fingers.  The dim light from the candle illuminated dilated pupils, and the prisoner's breathing was shallow.  The servant smiled.  It was time to summon the master.  "Lord Voldemort, ruler of darkness, from the mists of time I call you.  From the veil of death I summon you.  Make use of my power to speak through the vessel, and let thy will be known."  

The prisoner's mouth opened, and a harsh croak unlike his real voice emerged.  "My loyal one.  Where are the rest?"  

"Captured.  Once you were slain we could not stand against Potter's might."  

"Fools, all of them," he scoffed.  Then, with an eager glint in the form's dead eyes, he asked, "Have you retrieved the E'Chode?"  

"Not yet.  With careful planning I was able to disable the boundary spells for a few moments, but not nearly long to retrieve the E'Chode.  However, I did get wind of the tool that will help us in our search.  Unfortunately, it was a bit more carefully guarded than I had planned on."  

The eyes of the vessel noticed the servant's hesitation and narrowed.  "There's something else, isn't there?"  

The servant took a deep breath, fearing it would be the last.  "The Link, is… is gone, my lord."  

The eyes darkened, and the servant went ahead quickly, "But I still have the prophecy."  

"Find him and kill him," came the prompt response.  

"My Lord," the servant said soothingly.  

The voice, not appeased, roared out of the body, "I DON'T CARE HOW YOU ACCOMPLISH IT, JUST GET…"  He started coughing and choking.  

The servant said worriedly, "My lord, you must vacate the body.  If he dies, all is lost."  

The form glared.  Even through the unfamiliar face, the wrath of the master was still awesome to behold.  

The servant said reassuringly, "I swear, upon my oath as a Death Eater, I shall do as you command."  

The light in the eyes slowly faded and died.  The prisoner gasped, and he fought the hold on his mind, his sleep light and restless.  The servant cursed and laid another sleeping spell on the prisoner.  He was much stronger than the servant had anticipated.  Still, it was the only acceptable form available, so the servant had to make do until the E'Chode could be collected.  Then the servant's carefully laid plans could be set in motion.


	7. The Owl is Sent

I think I'll stick with the 'every two days' updating.  It works for me. Chapter 6.  The Owl Is Sent 

The gray dawn revealed to Hermoine that the snow had stopped falling for the moment.  The pleasant sight was accompanied by the equally wonderful smell of stew.  

Ron was sitting on a stool in front of the fireplace, stirring the contents of a large caldron.  "Already sent word to the Ministry.  I thought you wouldn't want to wait," he said as she approached.  

Hermoine picked up a chair and sat next to him, resting her chin on the chair back.  "_You know how to __cook?" she asked, studying the contents of the pot.  _

Ron looked insulted.  "You _do learn a thing or two after three years on your own.  Besides, can't take all my meals at the Caldron, I haven't the sickles for it."  _

A blast of wind blew by the shop, making the windows rattle.  "It's picking up again," Hermoine said disappointedly, watching the first flakes start to fall.  

"I sent Pig as soon as it slacked.  With the way he shrieks around, he should get in all right," Ron said.  

"Didn't know you brought him.  He was being awfully quiet," Hermoine said, her brows furrowing slightly.  

"I put a binding spell on him and stuck him in my pocket.  He was mad when I let him out," Ron said with a grin.  

"Ron!" she exclaimed.  

"Well, you didn't want him screeching around here all night, did you?"    

"Well, no, but you _could have just put a silencing spell on him."  _

"What good would that do?  He _pecks."  _

Hermoine nodded vaguely, watching him stir.  "I wish I'd gotten the chance to apologize to him, now."  

Ron stopped stirring to look at her.  

She shook her head.  "It seemed so utterly perfect.  After all, I knew Harry, and with the two of us being friends already, getting together seemed like the most natural thing in the world.  And for a while, it was everything I imagined.  But after You-Know-Who…  So much had changed.  He wasn't the Harry I remembered.  And I _blamed him for that, and for everything else gone wrong that wasn't his fault.  If I could just take it back…  If something's happened, and he died thinking… I mean, I __don't hate him," she said, desperately.   _

Ron set the spoon aside and wiped his hands on his robe.  "Are you still in love with him, then?"  

She was startled.  Was that a hint of jealousy in his voice?  "I…I don't know.  I don't _think so…" she sputtered.  She took a moment to collect her rampaging thoughts.  _

Ron waited patiently.  

"I just want him _back.  Not…with me, not like that, but… back safe, and… and __happy, like he used to be," she said finally.  _

Ron gave her an understanding nod.  "Yeah."  They both sat, lost in their own thoughts.  

Hermoine giggled suddenly.  "He used to bring me the most horrid spells and want to know if they worked.  And you know it's nearly impossible to turn Harry down once he got an idea into his head."  

"Like sneaking into Hogsmeade third year," Ron said with a grin.  

"And don't think I didn't _know it was you two that set the fur spell in the girl's dormitory," she said, brandishing her finger at him.  _

"They couldn't prove we had anything to do with it," he responded, the mischievous spark in his eyes all but an admission of guilt.  

"And all the plotting in potions class!"  

"Right under Snape's nose!  And candy and wizard's chess in the common room!"  

"After lights out."  

"It's the only way to do it properly.  Spooky stories just aren't as good in the daytime.  And we had more fun with that invisibility cloak…"  

"And poor Sirrus.  The things people cast at him when they thought he was just a dog…"  

They didn't realize how loudly they were laughing until Snape cleared his throat.  The wizards and almost all the muggles were awake and staring at them.  

Snape reached over, picked up the ladle, and took a sip.  "I believe it's ready, Mr. Weasley," he said, handing him the spoon.  He had the oddest expression on his face.  Then he shook his head, made a little noise in the back of his throat and mumbled something about getting the bowls as he walked quickly away.  

"I think he smiled," Hermoine said, biting her lip to keep from grinning.  

"Couldn't be," Ron returned, in mock amazement.  Then they both lost it again.

Pigwidgeon, well fed by Ron and his guilty conscience and completely unabashed by his treatment the night before, landed on the windowsill of Percy Weasley's office at the Ministry of Magic and pecked against the glass.  Percy impatiently waved him off.  Being one of the few people not out on one assignment or another, he had the pleasure of dealing with both Ginny Longbottom and Cho Chang, both talking at once, both very upset.  

Ginny was crying.  "He hasn't been home in three days.  I know he's forgetful, but not _that forgetful…"  _

"Draco Malfoy _broke into my home, and you're just…" Cho said at the same time.  _

Pigwidgeon dropped the letter on the windowsill and screeched.  

"**_Shut  it," Percy snapped impatiently.  The two women both stopped at once, shocked speechless.  "Not you, of course not you.  My brother's owl," he said, embarrassed.  _**

He opened the window and let in the hyperactive owl, which sailed over, dropped the letter on the desk, and jumped up and down, making high pitched squeals.  

Ginny picked up Pigwidgeon and cooed over him to keep him quiet.  "You go ahead," she said to Cho with a sniff, while scratching the owl under his chin.  

Percy straightened up authoritatively, folded his hands, and bade Cho to continue.  "I came home a little later than usual last night.  I took off my wrap and had just set down my wand when someone grabbed me from behind and stuck a wand under my throat.  Then I heard Draco's voice asking me if I had it."  

"Had what?" Percy asked.  

"I don't know!  He kept going on about doorways, and, and darkness.  Something about falling or rising or… I'm not sure.  It was crazy talk.  But he seemed to think I knew all about it, and kept getting angrier and angrier when I wouldn't tell him."  She started crying again.  

Percy shook his head, sadly.  No one at Hogwarts outside of Slytherin had cared for Malfoy, but he couldn't help but feel a bit sorry for him.  He had gone crazy after his father had been sent to Azbakan, just left home one day with no rhyme or reason.  He had been harmless up until now, wandering the streets muttering and looking through dustbins for food, but no sense taking any chances.  He said, with great authority in his voice, "Dealing with dangerous wizards isn't really my department, but I shall send out an order for Draco Malfoy's arrest immediately."  

"Thank you," Cho said, with a warm, relieved smile.  

"You may want to have a healer take a look at you," he said, looking at her arm.  "I'll be fine," she responded, pulling down her sleeve to hide the bruises.  

"And I'll help you look for Neville," Percy said to Ginny.  

She nodded and stood up, putting Pigwidgeon down.  The owl started hooting and jumping as soon as his talons touched the desk.  Percy groaned and picked up the letter.  The address was in Ron's handwriting.  Hmph, probably just another one saying, "I've been sorting wands and can Mum send some more sweets."  He should know better than to bother him at work, with so many terribly important things going on.  

"Mum's told him a hundred times to send all mail to the house," Percy muttered, scrawling the address for the Barrow across the front.  Then he held it out to Pigwidgeon, who obligingly took it in his beak and flew out the window.


	8. The Muggles Awaken

New chapter!  Thanks to PlasmicFemale, Katie Potter and Abbi for the reviews!  Chapter 7: The Muggles Awaken 

The muggle bus driver had taken a step outside to relieve himself.  He took a look around at the buildings as he did his business.  Weren't any town he recognized, but that didn't mean anything.  He was new on that route.  He finished, and was about to go inside when he heard muttering and scraping.  He walked a little further down the alley and stopped.  

A man dressed like a shoddy Jedi was digging through the snow and pulling up stones while muttering to himself.  "Here, is it here?  No…  No, musn't find.  Musn't find.  Bad thing, stay.  Enslave, enslave us all…"  Then he tore at his hair and started digging again with an increased fervor.  

The bus driver started backing away.  

"You!" the man said to him, looking up.  

The driver turned to run, but he suddenly found his legs had turned to jelly and he crashed to the ground.  The man put a stick back in his robe and hurried over.  

"What'd you do?  What are you?" the driver yelped, trying to pull himself away.  

The crazy man grinned.  "That?  That's nothing.  They'll do worse, far worse."  

"Who?" the driver asked, covering his face with his hand to hide the man's stench.  

"You-Know-Who.  _They made me a slave!" the crazy man said, blue eyes blazing, his frustration radiating off of him.  Then he laughed to himself.  "Gone crazy.  I'm warning __muggles.  What good are they?"  He waved his wand over the driver to break the spell.  _

The driver got up quickly, brushing the snow off of his bottom.  

The man continued, "Can't stop.  _Must find it," wandering to the far end of the alley.  _

The driver swallowed.  He might have been out of his head, but the driver had _never seen anything like what he'd done.  And who was __they?  He had told him he knew who it was…  Wait, he remembered last night now, the stick waving the people inside had been doing over him while he lay there, helpless.  He shuddered.  If they could drive a fellow stick waver mad, what could they do to a regular bloke like himself?  He had to go warn the others, about the slavery and the rest of it.  _

The stew line was moving along quite nicely.  The muggle Erin helped Ron stir up another batch when they ran out, and the muggle Stephanie was supervising the handing out of bowls, making sure no one was skipped and everyone got the same amount.  Marie insisted on getting up and helping to pass out bowls, even though she could hardly limp around the room.  Hermoine and Stephanie tried to get her to lie back down, Marie got stubborn, and the whole thing ended in a shouting match.  It ended just the way Ron thought it would, with Hermoine and Stephanie leaving in a huff.  Ron applauded as Marie came back to take some more bowls, getting glares from the other two girls.  

"I just don't like feeling helpless," Marie said defensively as she walked away with the bowls.  

Ron tried striking up conversations with some of the muggles as they ate, but most seemed nervous talking to him.  One man, the bus driver, was downright hostile.  

"I don't get it," Ron said, sitting back down on his stool.  

"Well, they've never seen magic before.  If someone had that much power and you didn't have any, how would you feel?" Marie answered, bringing back some empty bowls.  

"Yeah, but you and your friends don't seem nervous."  

"Stephanie only wraps herself up in work when she's stressed," Marie said, pointing to where her friend was busying herself with changing a bandage.  

"Oh," Ron said, abashed.  

"She's not really liking the whole magic thing, but she should be fine," Marie continued, setting herself down on the floor in front of a large tub of freshly melted snow.  

"What about the other one?  Erin?"  

"What about her?"  

"Well, I mean, does she…"  

"The only things Erin cares deeply about are food and sleep.  Anything else is, 'Ah, whatever'."  She dropped the bowls in and started scrubbing.  

"You're arm's working all right?" Ron said, surprised.  

"It's a little stiff and it hurts to lift it above my shoulder, but yeah, it's working.  And no, this place doesn't bother me," she said, with a grin.  

Ron used his wand to squirt in some soap.  

"Thanks," Marie responded as the sink filled with bubbles.  

There came a crash from the other side of the room.  Ron went to go look.  

The bus driver had Flitwick slammed against the floor, pinning his wand arm.  "_Get that thing away from me," he snarled.  _

Flitwick was too stunned to protest.  In two seconds flat it had turned into a brawl, with muggles trying to unwand Flitwick and wizards trying to haul the bus driver away.  Ron fished for his wand.  

Marie lunged and grabbed his arm, almost falling in the process, and hissed, "_Think.  If the wand's what's bothering everyone, using yours is going to make it worse."  _

"Can't just stand here, they're killing each other," Ron snapped back.  

"Hey!" Stephanie yelled, hurrying across the room.  She elbowed her way in and managed to shove the crowd back.  

"He's waving his stick at me," the man said, defensively, as Stephanie glared down at him.  

She pushed the driver off Flitwick, and stood the professor up.  "You, ask from now on," she said, handing him back his wand.  She turned to the bus driver.  "You, I don't know _what that was all about, but I really don't want to spend the rest of my time here breaking you guys up.  And that goes for the rest of you, too," she said, giving her glare to muggle and wizard alike.  Then she marched off again._

"Are you okay, Steph?" Marie said to her.  

"Yeah," she muttered.  

"You, too?" Marie asked Flitwick.  

"I was only trying to be helpful," he answered, worriedly.  

"We know, Professor," Ron said, giving him a friendly pat on the shoulder.  

McGonagal and Dumbledore joined the group.  "We never should have taken these people in.  They're _violent," McGonagal was saying.  _

"They're scared.  They were expecting to wake up in a hospital, not some whacked out place like this," Marie said.  

"'_Whacked out'?" McGonagal said, appalled.  _

"Well, to them, anyway," Marie said.  

"Do you suppose if there were fewer wizards around, they might feel more at ease?" Dumbledore asked.  

"_Fewer wizards?  What if they riot?" McGonagal asked.  _

"I agree.  Just look at their faces.  This could turn ugly again at any _moment," Hermoine said, joining the conversation.  _

"Guys, they listened to me back there.  I don't think it'll get _too out of hand," Stephanie said.  _

Dumbledore said, "We did discuss some of us returning to Hogwarts."  Everyone avoided his gaze.  "Do you feel confident in my leaving you in charge?" he asked Stephanie.  She nodded.  "All right.  I'll leave Professor McGonagal here to assist you.  If you run out of supplies, send word to Hogwarts.  It's just up the road," Dumbledore told her.  

Stephanie swallowed nervously, but it was obvious she was secretly enjoying being in charge.  

"Are all your things packed?" Dumbledore asked Marie.  

"Yeah.  I didn't take anything out."  

"Good.  Ron, will you be so kind as to loan Miss Marie your broom?  It's a bit far for her to walk in her condition."  

"But…" Ron said, startled.  

"Just get it to float a bit, and use your hand to guide it as you walk alongside.  It shouldn't be that difficult," Dumbledore reassured him.  

"And you really don't think the bad guy will be back here," Marie said, a little skeptically.  

The wizards paused.  Dumbledore finally said, "This dark wizard seemed primarily interested in you.  The sooner we get you safely to Hogwarts, the less likely it becomes that he will return here."  

"Why is Hogwarts any safer than here?" Marie asked.  

"It's got protection spells.  Keeps anyone from aperating or disaperating from there, as we know only too well," Ron said, with a pointed look at Hermoine.  

"Okay, that makes sense now.  What about Erin?"  

There came a crash, and Erin's "Oops.  Hee hee."  She had been trying to lift the caldron of leftover stew and had dropped it.  

Stephanie watched the liquid run over the floor and said tightly, "Take her.  Please."

The next chapter will be a lot longer, and with a bit more going on.  I promise.


	9. The Walk and the Note

There won't be another update on this until Tuesday. Chapter 8.  The Walk and the Note 

Dumbledore blazed the trail through the knee-deep snow to Hogwarts.  There were a few light flakes coming down already as the group trudged along.  

"How come _I don't get a broom?" Erin whined from behind the group as she trudged through the snow.  _

Marie glanced back at her, unconsciously turning the handle and almost running into Ron, who was walking alongside.  He pushed the broom back straight with a jerk, causing Marie to momentarily lose her balance.  Snape, who had been walking behind them, marched briskly past, deliberately bumping the broom as he went.  Marie gripped the handle hard as Ron cursed under his breath and steadied the broom again.  Marie gave the bristles a small kick and the broom shot forward a few inches, banging into Snape's elbow.  He snarled and rounded on her.  The look she gave him was deliberately innocent.  

"You children stop fighting," Dumbledore said calmly, without bothering to turn his head.  

Hermoine scowled imperiously at the trio.  Snape took a few steps to get out of handle range and stuck his hands in his pockets.  

"Serves him right, making a pest out of himself," Ron muttered under his breath.

When the wizards mentioned "Hogwarts," Marie was expecting a jail like institution similar to the ones ordinarily associated with the word "school", not, as she so mildly put it, "Dracula's Castle."  

Erin's sole commentary on the building as she puffed to a stop was, "You'd better have fireplaces in there.  And cocoa."  

Dumbledore assured her that they had both.  Marie slid off the back of the broom as they entered the main lobby.  There were a few students on the main stairwell, and they stopped to gawk at the muggles.  

"Is it safe to look around?" Marie asked.  

Erin was already poking the enchanted armor in different spots to see what it would do.  

"Yes, of course.  Any restricted areas are either locked or have a password," Dumbledore said.  

"Oh, that'll be the first thing she'll be into," Marie commented as Erin rushed up the staircase past the students, giggling maniacally.  

"**_The staircases change!" Hermoine called after her.  _**

Erin didn't even turn around.  

"Now if you'll excuse us," she continued, starting to leave with Dumbledore and Flitwick.  

"Isn't there anything I can do?" Marie asked.  They paused to stare.  "I want to find out what they want just as much as you do, so I'll know what to do to avoid it," she finished.  

"You don't know anything about wizarding, so most of the books we'll be looking through won't make any sense to you. It'll just be a lot faster if we handle this," Hermoine said.  

"We appreciate the offer," Flitwick said kindly.   

"Coming, Severus?" Dumbledore asked.  

"You'd _better behave yourselves, __or else," Snape growled lowly to Marie and Ron before following.  _

"I'm going to go say hello to Hagrid.  You'll be all right, then," Ron said, before wandering off and leaving Marie alone in the great hall.  

I see where I rank on the totem pole, Marie thought to herself.  She shuffled forward and used the handrail on the stairs for support.  The students were still there, watching her.  

One of them grinned evilly and stepped forward.  "Engorgio!" he yelled, waving his wand.  His smile faded when nothing happened.  

"No thanks.  I'm full," Marie said, ascending the rest of the stairs calmly.

Snape blew down the hall after the strategy meeting, his long cloak billowing behind him.  He considered the entire meeting a spectacular waste of time.  The Ministry hadn't responded back with an owl yet, so they had decided to send another note.  This complicated Snape's life enormously.  

He rounded a corner at full tilt and stopped suddenly in shock.  The hallway was filled with students.  He spotted with a glance several copies of all 143 items that had been officially banned in the corridors.  Snape knew full well that the students could not have gotten a hold of such a vast inventory unless someone with a severe disregard for school policy had raided Filch's closet.  And he had a fairly good idea of who the scofflaw had been.  He ducked as a Fanged Frisbee flew over his head.  It hit the wall, fell to the ground, and started chewing the carpet.  

"_Snape!" someone yelled out in warning.  _

The students all looked up in terror and fled.  He didn't know whether to be sorry or grateful.  After all, writing out all those detention slips would have taken most of the day…  Thoughtfully, he reached down and picked up the Frisbee off the floor of the now empty hallway with long, bony fingers.  He had never had one.  He tossed it straight up, watched it as it spun in the air and snarled, and caught it when it came back down.  He gave it one last scrutinizing look and put it in his robe.

Snape found Marie lounging on a couch in the library stubbornly reading "Hogwarts: A History".  She had a copy of "Famous Persons of the Wizarding World", the "The Oxford Wizard's Dictionary" and the last two weeks of the "Daily Prophet" stacked up against the couch.  

"Care to explain this?" he said, showing her the Frisbee.  

"Erin broke into the scary dude's office.  I had nothing to do with it," she responded, looking up and sticking her index finger in between the pages to mark her place.  

"A muggle, opening a magically sealed door without a key.  Most unusual.  And impressive," he said, a superior, crafty look spreading across his face.  

Marie knew full well he thought she was responsible and answered mildly, "Who said she _didn't have a key?"  _

He acknowledged the point with a nod, watching her face intently for any sign of a lie.  Marie went back to reading.  

"I believe you were asked by Miss Granger to stay out of wizard business," Snape said, indicating her stack.  

Marie let her book fall and said, "You said I didn't know enough to help.  So I'm learning.  Unless of course telling me that was just a ploy to get rid of me."  

Snape didn't say anything, but seemed a little shocked by her sharp tone with him.  That didn't fit into his plans at all; he needed her to trust him.  "We do tend to be a bit… _suspicious … of strangers.  But not without good reason, I'm afraid," he said, by way of explanation.  _

Marie accepted the statement with a nod and lifted her book again.  

Snape broke her concentration for a third time by saying, "You might not believe this, but I am not your enemy."  

Marie glanced up and responded dryly, "The thought never crossed my mind."  

He stared at her a moment, trying to gage the statement's level of sarcasm.  Finally deciding that it was somewhere between medium and high (and therefore any further conversation would be futile), he said, "The library closes at eight," before turning to leave.  

"I'm rooming here.  I got permission from the librarian," she responded, in a voice that dared him to challenge it.  

He paused, surprised, and said, "We _do have some perfectly good beds at this school."  _

Her voice said behind him, a little more cheerily, "I don't want anybody taking any extra trouble.  Besides, I like it here.  And I'm going to be spending a lot of time doing research anyway.  Just means I don't have as far to walk."  

He caught on swiftly to her train of thought and commented, "It also provides you with the unique opportunity to be both obstinate and non-troublesome at the same time."  

She looked startled.  He pretended he hadn't seen it, carefully hid a smile, and left the library.

A few minutes later, Snape sat at the desk in his rooms, muttering to himself.  A freshly mixed beaker was simmering within reach. To his left on the desk was his untouched meal.  To his right was a pen and parchment, on which he was scribbling a quick note in handwriting that looked very different what his students were used to seeing on the chalkboard or along the margins of their corrected papers.  In front of him was a note card, completely covered in writing very similar to what Snape was producing on his paper.  The writer of the card had signed his name across the top: Harry Potter.  

He checked the finished product carefully, blotted the ink and folded the note in half.  He knew he was panicking, perhaps unnecessarily.  After all, there was no guarantee he would be found out if the letter were sent.  But he _could not allow that owl to reach its destination; there was too much at stake not to be devious._

Snape waited in a secluded spot outside where he could see the owlery, his fingers idly twisting the cord of a whistle.  The snow was coming down more thickly now, and he had to stamp his feet to keep warm in the frosty air.  He could see shadows moving around in the tower, and a few moments later one of the school owls flew out of a slit in the wall.  It made a wide circle around the tower before gliding toward Snape.  He waited until the shadows in the tower had retreated out of the room, and then blew the whistle.  It made no sound to his ears, but the owl evidently heard it, for it flew down to where he was standing and perched on his outstretched arm.  He took the letter from its beak and pocketed it.  Then he and the owl went back to his rooms to wait.

"_Filch's office?" Ron said.  _

"Yes," Hermoine said, in an exasperated tone.  

"Why didn't we think of that?" Ron said, musingly.  

Hermoine glared at him across the board.  

"Check," Ron said, moving his bishop.  

A soft fluttering of wings alerted him to the fact that the owl they had sent was returning.  

"That's not Ministry stationary," Hermoine said, standing up and moving her rook at the same time to block the check.  She took the note and the owl flew out the window.  

"What's it say?" Ron asked, standing up to look over her shoulder.  

"'For God's sake, don't send any more owls,'" Hermoine read.  

"That's Harry's handwriting!" Ron exclaimed.  

"We've got to tell Dumbledore," she responded, hurrying out of the room.  

Ron moved his knight to checkmate Hermoine and followed her.


	10. What the Heck is an E'Chode, Anyway?

New chapter on Thursday.  (I certainly took long enough to get to an E'Chode explanation, didn't I?) Chapter 9.  What the Heck is an E'Chode, Anyway?  

Marie yawned.  The writing in "Hogwarts, A History" was fairly dry and she was a little tired of having to look words up.  However, students who had checked the book out before her had written helpful notations and snide commentary in the margins, so that increased the book's interest level slightly.  

She turned the page and perked up a little once the book started talking about the protective boundaries around the school.  She looked up a few more words, and came across the word 'E'Chode' written in the margin in faint pencil.  She looked that up too, only to discover that it wasn't listed.  She checked the book index on the off chance that it was there.  Nothing.  

"Hm," she said to herself.  

She set the book down and went in search of food and someone friendly who could answer her question.

The house elves in the kitchen didn't know (but Marie discovered that they made good cookies).  Neither did the students she ran into in the halls (although they were grateful for the return of their confiscated items).  She couldn't find Ron, Hermoine, or Dumbledore, but that was probably just as well since they thought she was a nuisance anyway.  Flitwick, she learned from a large man called Hagrid (who didn't know what an E'Chode was either), was supervising the bringing of more supplies to Hogsmeade, so that left Snape.  She wasn't certain she liked him, but he was right about her having no good reason to mistrust him.  Might as well give him the benefit of the doubt.  After all, it wasn't as though he could cast anything on her.  

By the time she found the potions classroom, she had walked all over the school and was extremely sore.  She walked quietly across the classroom and peeked into Snape's office.  

"What?" he snapped.  

"What's an E'Chode?" she asked, before he could throw her out.  

"A what?" he said, furrowing his brow.  

"An E'Chode.  Someone wrote it in the margins of a Hogwarts history book next to the part talking about the boundary spells, but it isn't in the dictionary and no one I've talked to's ever heard of it before."  

"Boundary spells, you said?" he asked, eyes lighting up.  

"Yeah."  

"There isn't very much that's unknown about boundary spells.  Now _I'm curious," he said, brushing past her.  _

She stared after him.  

He crooked his finger at her.  "Come.  Let's do a little digging."

After checking a few standard books in the main section, Snape moved over and took the rope off the restricted section.  

"Good place to hide a secret," Marie commented, brushing dust off one of the spines with a fingertip.  

"Start looking.  But be very careful about what you open," he warned.  The rest of the search was done in silence, punctuated by short phrases.  

"It bit me!"  

"Evidently that's not the right book, then."  

Pause.  

"Check this out."  

"That's horrible."  

"Maybe you could frame it and put it on your wall.  You know, Exhibit A if they misbehave."  

"That isn't such an awful idea."  

Laughter.  Pause.  

A shriek from Marie, followed by Snape slamming the book shut and stamping out flames while muttering, "Why do we even _have that book?"_

Finally, Marie came across a drawer at the bottom of one of the shelves.  She opened it and pulled out some scrolls.  

She unrolled one of them on the floor and stared at it.  "I can't read this."  

Snape came around and looked over her shoulder.  "E'Chode," he said, pointing to one of the words.  

"Jackpot!  Can you translate it?" she asked him.  

"It'll take some time, and I'll need a few books from my office," he responded.  

"Let's go," she said, pulling herself to her feet stiffly.

Ron and Hermoine waited eagerly in Dumbledore's office as he studied the note carefully.  

He finally laid down his glasses and asked them, "Did you just receive this note?"  

"Yes, not more than a few minutes ago," Hermoine supplied.  

"Did you have to dry it?" he pressed.  

"No.  Now that you mention it, that _does seem a bit strange, doesn't it?" Hermoine said, looking out at the falling snow.  _

"You mean, Harry's _here?" Ron exclaimed, his face lighting up.  _

"_Someone's certainly here," Hermoine said darkly.  _

"You think a dark wizard sent this to throw us off," Ron said, his face taking on a worried look.  

"Perhaps we should check on Miss Marie," Dumbledore said, standing up.

Marie sat on the table, swinging her feet.  They had been working on the translation for longer than she cared to think about.  Snape had set her on the books, looking up various words for him while he struggled with the rest of it.  He snarled at her a few times, but not as often as she had expected.  She had also taken the time to eat his food for him.  He either didn't notice, or didn't care.  She came across some foul smelling stuff in a bottle, which Snape snatched away and told her was for his ulcers.  She believed it; nothing that smelled that bad would be taken by choice.  

"I think that's got it," he said, setting his quill down and rubbing his eyes.  

Marie slid toward him and leaned over the paper.  

He continued, "From what I could deduce, the E'Chode is not one object, but four.  Four stones, to be exact, created by magic.  They have the appearance of large river rocks, but contain a jeweled center when cut open."  

"Like a geode."  

"Not a bad analogy.  They were created to amplify spells..."  

"Boundary spells; which is why they would be in the book."  

"They can amplify any spell, actually.  But you're correct, they were used to create boundaries in four spots around Britain: Hogwarts, Hogsmeade, Diagon Alley, and the Isle of Drear.  And... they had protection spells around them... to make it impossible to move them once placed."  

"And they were able to amplify the protection spells too, so they were really protecting themselves."  

"Sounds logical.  Of course, all of this was done before we discovered unplottability.  There's a mention of a fifth magic location, but it doesn't have anything to do with the E'Chode specifically."  

Marie nodded absently and slid off the table.  "Thanks," she murmured.  

"Do you believe that's why they want you?  For the E'Chode?" he asked, pressing his fingertips together.  

"What do I know?" she said in exasperation, wincing a little as she took a step.  

Snape slid a bottle across the table.  

"What's this?" she said, suspiciously.  

"To dull the pain," he answered.  

Marie was about to thank him, when the door to Snape's office burst open.  

Erin was standing there with a large plate of food, a tankard of butterbeer, and a silly grin on her face.  "They have _elves," she announced.  _

"Out," Snape said, pointing to the door.  

"But Snapie poo, I wanted to keep you company," Erin responded with a fake pout, eyeing the breakable glass bottles of potion ingredients eagerly.  

"**_Out!" he repeated, removing his wand from his robes.  _**

"But _she's here!" Erin whined, pointing at Marie.  _

"Wingardum Leviosa!" Snape snapped.  

Erin zoomed up into the air and flew out the door at incredible speed.  

"You too," Snape said, waving the tip of his wand at Marie.  

"Wow, neat!" Erin's voice exclaimed from the hall.  

Snape hissed and shook his head.  "I sincerely hope Hagrid introduces her to the Blast Ended Skrewts," he muttered darkly as Marie walked slowly out.  


	11. Snowballs

I put my commentary on the bottom this time!  Ooh…different…  (new chapter Saturday) Chapter 10.  Snowballs 

"Marie!" Ron's voice called as she emerged from the office.  He and Hermoine raced down the hall towards her.  

"We've been looking all over for you," Hermoine scolded, looking slightly worried.  

"I was in Snape's office," Marie informed her.  

"What did you want with _that git?" Ron asked, frowning.  _

"I came across a word that wasn't in the dictionary.  He helped me find out what it was," Marie answered.  

Hermoine let out a breath of exasperation.  "I thought you were going to stay _out of wizarding business."  _

"Don't you at least want to hear what we found?" Marie asked.  

"_No," Hermoine said firmly.  _

Marie was about to tell them anyway, when a boom resounded from the other end of the hall.  Ron and Hermoine ran to the door at the end of the hall, fearing some nefarious spell cast by dark wizards.  

"Someone left cursed cards lying around," Erin said, standing as far from the desk she had been sitting at as possible.  

"It's just an Exploding Snap deck," Hermoine said impatiently to Ron, who was panting in the doorway with his wand out.  

"They're supposed to do that," Ron gasped to Erin, putting his wand away.  

Hermoine swept out of the room and said firmly to Marie, "_Stay in one __spot from now on," before storming down the hall in a huff.  _

Marie glared daggers at her back.  

Ron rested a hand on Marie's shoulder and said, "I hate to admit it, but she's right about this one."  

Marie looked abashed at seeing his expression and said, "I'll be asleep in the library," before trudging down the hall.  

"_Honestly, she's __impossible," Hermoine said, flopping down in a chair in front of the fire burning brightly in the Gryfindor common room.  _

"I dunno.  Weren't you just the least bit curious when this was all new to you?" Ron asked, lying down on a nearby couch.  

"There's a difference between healthy curiosity and just plain stupidity," Hermoine insisted with a sour look.  

"I guess," Ron said, staring into the fire.  

"You're not attracted to her, are you?" Hermoine asked him suspiciously.  

"No, I just feel sorry for her.  And you shouldn't get worked up like that.  It can't be very good for you," he said, glancing back at her.  

She made a little hmph sound and crossed her arms, noticing that Ron got a very saucy grin on his face as she did so.  

"Something funny, Weasley?" Hermoine asked in her most haughty voice.  

"No, of course not," Ron said, his grin broadening.  

She pulled out her wand, racking her brain for a good spell to wipe the grin off his face.  

He beat her to it.  "Accio!"  

Her wand shot forward, pulling her along with it.  She fell onto the couch on top of him.  

"You did that on purpose!" she exclaimed, trying to straighten her robes.  

"Yep."  

She stared at him for a long moment, realization finally dawning on her.  "Ronald Weasley, if you were _that interested, why didn't you ever say something?"  _

"Didn't want to upset Harry, and wasn't really sure you felt the same," he said with a shrug.  

She laughed and shook her head, wondering how she could have been so blind.  He leaned forward and kissed her lightly on the mouth.  She was amazed to find that she felt the same way as Ron apparently did.  

"Good night, Ron," Hermoine said dreamily after a long pause, getting up and heading toward the girls stairwell toward the room she knew was lying prepared for her.  

"Night," Ron's voice came after her.

Marie had not had a good night.  A very loud, badly dressed ghost had thrown things at her, until she stood up and vividly described him and offered suggestions about what he could do to himself in such colorful language that had anyone living heard her they would have dropped dead on the spot from shock.  

Peeves, being dead already, simply said wickedly, "My, my.  If I'd known naughty muggles were so much fun, I would have haunted them instead."  

Marie got stiffly down on the floor, crawled under the couch, and pulled the pillow over her head, which protected her from objects, but not Peeves' voice, which regaled her with rude songs for several hours until he got bored and went away.  She slept fitfully the rest of the night, using the salve Snape had given her every once in awhile to dull the pain, and was greeted the next morning by the sound of the couch tipping over and light shining into her eyes.  

"What are you doing?" Erin asked.  

"Getting away from the ghost," Marie said, forcing herself to a sitting position.  

"There's ghosts?" Erin said eagerly.  

"What do you want?" Marie asked her impatiently.  

Erin grinned broadly, and pelted Marie in the face with a freshly scooped snowball before bounding away like an oversized bunny rabbit.  Marie struggled to her feet and stumbled after her as fast as her muscles would allow.  Erin led her to the courtyard and pelted her with another snowball as soon as she came out.  Marie was only too happy to send another one back to her.  

The fight stopped dead a few minutes later when a stray snowball pelted Snape right in the face as he stormed around the corner into the courtyard.  Once she saw what had happened, Erin let out a little 'eep' and took off as fast as her legs would carry her.  Marie stood frozen to the spot.  

Snape approached with slow measured steps, his black eyes appraising her coolly.  He stopped a few steps away, and she caught the glint in his eye a second before he hit her with the snowball he was holding behind his back.  She was too stunned to retaliate, so he simply gave her a superior look and continued walking.  Her eyes narrowed and she scooped up another snowball and tossed it into his back.  He whipped around to glare menacingly.  She scooped up another snowball, returned the superior look, and waited.  It was a short wait.  

She discovered that it was hard work dodging his snowballs, he was quicker and a much better aim than Erin.  She deliberately threw a few of them short to lure him in closer, so she could get ahead on points.  He recognized the strategy and danced just out of her reach.  Finally she gave up on the idea of beating him fairly and just pounced.  He had been expecting that and caught her arms, but she twisted at the same time and pulled him to the ground.  

"Surrender or die, punk," she said.  

"_You're giving __me orders?" he said in his most threatening voice.  _

"Yes," she answered confidently.  

"I don't have to obey _you.  __I'm winning," he said, his stern voice and sour face not quite disguising the mischievous glint in his eyes or the smile playing at the corners of his mouth.  _

She reached for the snow next to his head, but he saw what she was planning and rolled her onto her back before standing up.  

"I have work to do.  It was…_fun," he said with a shudder, as though fun was some sort of terrible infectious disease.  _

Marie watched him leave, amazed that there was a vestige of an actual human being inside that pasty shell.  And it had a sense of humor, no less.  

"You learn something new every day," she said to herself, getting carefully to her feet.

"RON!  Are you there, son?" 

Ron woke up with a start.  His father's head was floating in the barely licking flames of the dying fire.  

"You got my owl!" Ron said, stumbling to his feet.  

"Percy forwarded the letter to the house.  I didn't find it until a few minutes ago, buried under a stack of Howlers…" Mr. Weasley's head muttered.  

"Dad…"  

"I swear, that boy…"  

"DAD!"  

"Oh, right.  Listen, Ron, there's no word on Harry here, but I came across a spell that might do you some good.  Let's see…ah," he said, holding up his hand in the flames.  

Clenched in it was a piece of parchment.  Ron grabbed the fire tongs and took it.  Scrawled hastily on the page was a spell for identifying unknown objects.  

Mr. Weasley's head continued, "Thought it might help with the body.  It's a bit basic, never tried it before in my line of work.  Let me know for certain how it goes one way or the other, hey?"  

"Sure thing."  

"I'll have the dementors standing by, just in case."  

"Thanks, Dad."  

Mr. Weasley's head vanished.  Ron pounded up the stairs and banged on Hermoine's door.  She answered the door in her nightclothes, bleary eyed.  

"I need your help with a spell," Ron said, brandishing the paper.

Hermoine added another ingredient to the beaker.  "And your father was sure this would help us identify the victim?" she said.  

"Well, no.  But it was the best he could come up with."  

The liquid turned purple, then green.  

Hermoine ran her finger down the paper, and said, "I think that's done it.  All we need now is the hair and the slip of parchment."  

Ron dropped the clump of hair from the body into the beaker and stirred it.  Then Hermoine took the parchment in the tongs and dipped it into the potion.  The paper turned black.  

"Um…" Ron said.  

They both stared.  

"No, it's working," Hermoine said, as words started to appear on it.  

She waited a few more moments, took the paper out, and blotted it on an old cloth.  

"This can't be," she said, as the writing became legible.  

"What?" Ron asked.  

Hermoine took a step back and motioned him over.  Ron looked at the paper and his mouth fell open.  Scrawled across the paper were two words, _Severus Snape._

There's my evil plot twist for you.  Ron/Hermoine pairing idea (well, more like insistence) courtesy of Grouchy HP Fanatic (yes, the one from the author's notes in the first chapter)


	12. Things Fall Apart

New chapter on Monday.  I don't know what to tell you, PlasmicFemale, it's working fine here. Chapter 11.  Things Fall Apart 

The muggles at the Three Broomsticks were becoming more and more antsy.  There were wizards stationed at every exit, and no one was allowed to go outside, "for their safety," one wizard said.  The story the bus driver told about the crazy stick waver in the alley didn't improve matters.  

Stephanie still had control over the situation, but it was tenuous at best.  She stacked the last box of supplies in what was left of the storeroom and wiped her brow.  She had never been wound so tightly.  The bus driver had hounded her all day yesterday, repeating his story and trying, as he put it, to make her "see reason."  The way Stephanie saw it, a roof over their heads and food to eat was more important than who supplied it at this point, which she calmly tried to explain to him.  After belaboring the point several times, he finally turned away from her in disgust.  

The morning dawned calmly.  There was very little conversation among the muggles.  The bus driver, in contrast to yesterday's surliness, looked exceedingly pleased with himself.  Stephanie made a mental note to keep an eye on him.  As she passed out the breakfast bowls, she heard a scratching sound coming from outside, and made a motion for one of the witches to go check it out.  As the witch stepped outside, an explosion hurled her off her feet.  The other two guards ran forward, and were dispatched just as smoothly.  

A crazy looking wizard with light hair and eyes burst in and exclaimed, "Run, muggles, run while you can!  Free yourself from the clutches of the Dark Lord!"  

The bus driver rallied everyone behind him, shouting, "Grab whatever you can carry!  Any stick waver that gets in your way, show 'em what real folk is made of!"  

Stephanie tried to talk some sense into everyone, but was drowned out by the roar of the crowd.  The last thing she saw before she was shoved carelessly to the floor was the wizard's rapture at the senseless destruction going on around him.

Ron and Hermoine found Dumbledore explaining to a third year the various healthy benefits that eating a package of Ice Mice provides.  They hurriedly took him aside and explained the unknown object spell and its result.  

Dumbledore's face turned very grim.  "Mr. Weasley, would you be so kind as to inform the Ministry of our plight while Miss Granger and I search the school?" Dumbledore asked.  

Ron nodded and hurried off to find a fireplace while Dumbledore and Hermoine went up the staircase.  The fake Snape stepped out of the doorway where he had been hiding, listening to the conversation.  He had to find Marie before anyone else and convince her to come with him before he was caught.  

Marie wandered out of the kitchen portrait with a cherry tart in one hand and apple cider in the other.  She could hear footsteps running on the floor above her.  She laughed to herself, thinking of the students and their crazy boomerangs.  She rounded a corner and was pulled quickly into a doorway.  She yelped and spilled cider all over the floor as a hand clamped over her mouth.  She turned and recognized Snape.  

"Come with me," he said urgently, taking the hand from her mouth.  

"What…" she started, but he shushed her.  

"Don't talk.  Come with me."  

He led her quickly along the long halls and winding staircases towards one of the castle's rear doors.  As he reached the door and opened it, a spell bolt hit the door next to his head.  Marie screamed and ducked, and Snape picked her up and ran.  Spells zinged past them as he ran toward a large tree on the grounds that was swinging its branches like clubs at anything that moved.  

"Stand," he ordered, setting her down before ducking beneath the branches to push a knot.  

The tree froze, and he yanked her inside and reached out to punch the knot again.  The tree clobbered their pursuer.  

"Who was that?" she gasped, trying to keep up with Snape as he darted along the corridor.  

"I'll explain everything later."  

"_Explain now."  _

Snape gave her a small shake.  "_I'm trying to protect you.  That's all you need to know," he said, coming to the end of the passage and opening a trap door.  _

He pulled her forward, shoved her through the hole and clambered up after.  The room above was full of smoke, and Marie covered her mouth with her sleeve, recoiling from the flames dancing before her eyes.  Snape grabbed her arm and dragged her out the front door, dodging columns of fire as they did so.  

The whole town was in chaos.  Buildings were burning, fights were breaking out everywhere they turned, muggles and wizards alike were lying unconscious in the streets, and a thick haze of smoke lay over everything.  

"Steph!" Marie called, as a familiar figure stumbled towards her.  

"A wizard.  Blew up the guards and then everyone just went crazy," Stephanie rasped, coughing from the smoke.  

"What did he look like?" Snape asked.  

"Skinny.  Blond hair, pale eyes," Stephanie answered.  

"Draco Malfoy," Snape said firmly.

A figure burst out of the shop that Snape and Marie had just exited and yelled, "Stop!"  

Snape tried to flee, but Marie held him firm.  "That's Ron!" she yelled.  

Ron brandished his wand at them.  "Get back," he commanded Snape.  

"You don't understand," Snape said soothingly, his eyes darting nervously around.  

"I understand you're not really Snape," Ron retorted, his face twisted in anger.  

Marie looked from one to the other.  The pained look on Snape's face revealed the truth of Ron's words.  

"I can explain…" the man she knew as Snape protested.  

Hooded figures were emerging out of the smoke like shadows.  Snape paled considerably when he saw them and reached frantically into his robes for his wand.  

"Expelliarmus," Ron said, causing the wand to fly out of Snape's hand.  

The figures moved closer, ever tightening the circle.  Snape was petrified to the spot.  

"Take him," Ron said, a tight, reluctant look on his face.  

"Please," Snape whispered, as corpse-like hands closed around him and drug him into the shadows.  

"I don't understand," Marie said.  

"He was the one, the dark wizard, I mean.  He killed the real Snape, and used Polyjuice Potion to change his appearance.  He was trying to kidnap you," Ron insisted.  

Marie swayed in shock.  It couldn't be true, she trusted him, _she trusted him…  _

Ron misinterpreted her look as fear, because he said quickly, "But it's all over now.  They're taking him to Azkaban, where he can't bother you ever again."  

Marie nodded absently.  

Ron said quietly, "I'm going to see what I can do about these people."  

Marie nodded, rubbing her arms to warm them up.  Ron looked knew she was still upset and looked reluctant to leave.  

"I'll be fine," she said, waving him off.  

Marie took a few steps toward one of the buildings not burning, lost in thought.  She stopped short mid stride when she saw one of the shadows move.  She watched it carefully.  It elongated, forming the shape of a cloaked figure.  She turned to run, but the figure bashed her in the back of the head with a stick and she stumbled.  As the figure wrapped a hand over her mouth, she realized it was not a stick, but the handle of a broom.  

"So, the magically immune muggle.  The only person on earth that can reach the E'Chode.  What do you say we leave the authorities to clean up this mess and get down to business, hm?" the cloaked figure purred, pressing a wand into Marie's bruised ribs hard enough to make her gasp.  "I thought you would agree," the figure finished, a smile tingeing the voice.


	13. The Imposter Unmasked

**Next chapter on Wednesday…  Sorry, another short one.** Chapter 12.  The Impostor Unmasked 

Hermoine and Dumbledore apperated from the edge of Hogwarts into Hogsmeade a few minutes later.  

"We got him.  The dementors are taking him to Azbakan," Ron told them.  

"What about the muggles?" Dumbledore asked.  

"We got most of them.  Probably give them a memory charm or somewhat and portkey them to a muggle hospital.  Safest thing, really," Ron said.  

Hermoine nodded, looking upset that her brush with philanthropy hadn't turned out the way she expected.  "It was a good thing we tried to do.  Wasn't it?" she asked, looking for reassurance.  

"A very good thing.  But even the best of intentions can go awry," Dumbledore commented, his words sounding strangely ominous.  

"Where's Marie?" Hermoine said suddenly, looking around.  

"Oh, she's right over…" Ron said, turning and stopping short once he realized she _wasn't right over there.  _

There were signs of a scuffle, and a broom taking off at the spot where Ron had last seen her, and he cursed.  "Brilliant.  We nip the fake, and his partner nips Marie."  

Stephanie approached and said, "It was some other guy who started the riot.  Dragon somebody…"  

"Draco Malfoy?" Hermoine said, surprised.  

"I think that was it."  

The group stood in dejected silence, uncertain of what to do next.

The figure landed the broom next to a large boulder on top of a hill overlooking Hogsmeade.  

"Put your hand inside the stone," the figure directed calmly.  

Marie approached the boulder and stopped.  

"Go on," the figure prompted.  

"And if I don't?"  

"The dementors are under my control.  If you don't do as I ask, I will order them to kill your friend."  

Marie snorted.  "Your compatriot, you mean."  

The figure laughed.  "No, no.  I'm afraid he was being completely truthful when he said that he was trying to protect you.  He just happened to be impersonating the wrong person at the wrong time."  

Marie furrowed her brow, unsure of the figure's truthfulness.  

"Snape's death was a complete accident.  My slave had residual instructions to find the exact locations of the E'Chode and report back to me.  Snape apparently startled him at his work, and he reacted in self-defense.  Couldn't have worked out better," the figure mused.  

Marie looked at the boulder, torn.  

"If that doesn't convince you, I can always leave a few dementors to keep Ron, Hermoine, and Stephanie company," the figure said smoothly.  

Marie knew then that she had no choice, and reached inside the rock to pull out the first E'Chode.

Ron and Hermoine, despite their desire to round up the accomplice as quickly as possible, spent the next few hours catching muggles and putting memory charms on them.  Dumbledore spent that time creating portkeys out of the metal rings of a barrel.  

"Go with them.  Make sure they get checked into the hospital all right," Hermoine said to Stephanie, as they arranged the now blissfully complacent muggles around the rings.  

Just before they winked out of existence, Hermoine cast a memory charm on Stephanie.  

"Will they be fine?" Ron said.  

"Yes.  They won't remember us, but they'll remember the accident and that they need medical attention," Hermoine said.  

"I wish we knew where they were taking her," Ron said in frustration.  

"Maybe there's something in Snape's office," Hermoine said.

They found Erin sitting in Snape's office and quickly filled her in.  She looked outraged.  

"You can help us," Hermoine said.  

"Doing what?" Erin responded.  

"Looking for any sort of clue that might tell us where Draco took Marie," Hermoine explained, slowly and patiently.  

"Um," Erin said, rummaging through the piles lying on Snape's desk.  

"Here.  They were working on this," she said, shoving the scroll and the translation into Hermoine's hand.  

Hermoine and Ron poured over it.  "_That's what they were after.  The E'Chode," Hermoine said, triumphantly.  _

"But look here.  There are only _four stones.  What's the __fifth place for?" Ron asked.  _

Hermoine said, "Perhaps it didn't need any protection, or it's a safe haven for anyone planning on working with the E'Chode.  Now where's another magic…"  

"Azkaban," both of them said at the same time.  

Hermoine nodded ironically.  "We didn't stop him.  We just sent him right back to his master."  

"Let's go," Ron said.  

Hermoine cast a memory charm on Erin and handed her a small portkey stone, causing her to promptly vanish to the hospital with the others.  Then Hermoine and Ron both left.

Marie followed the figure down the darkened passageways of Azkaban.  She had braved a giant spider in the woods outside Hogwarts, slogged through the sewers of Diagon Alley, and climbed the sheer cliffs of the Island of Drear to retrieve the other three stones.  She felt as though any second she might drop and never get up.  But her task appeared to be far from over.  The figure relentlessly pressed on to the end of the passageway.  

"Put your hand right here," the figure said, tapping the center of the blank wall.  

Marie pressed, and the wall slid away, revealing a flight of stairs.  They followed them down deep into the very heart of the prison.  After what seemed like forever, the stairs ended at a large cavernous space.  

"Lumos," the figure said, and light sprang from the wand tip.  In the center of the cavern were four impossibly large stones.  

"Move them," the figure commanded.  

"What?"  

"They're magically weighted.  Shouldn't be any problem for you," the figure said dismissively.  

Marie pushed one experimentally, and it rose easily to a standing position.  

"Make a doorframe," the figure said.  

Marie propped up the other post, slid the threshold between them, and managed to place the final stone on top as the lintel by standing on tiptoe.  As soon as the last stone was set in place, the doorway revealed not empty space, but a room.  

"Excellent," the figure said, dragging Marie back up the stairs and through the endless hallways to a cell.  

A dementor standing guard opened the door for them, and the figure peeked in.  "Looks as though the Polyjuice Potion has worn off."  

Inside the cell was a shivering lump.  It lifted its head weakly, and Marie gasped when she saw his face.  She knew him, that was…  

"Do keep Potter company until I return," the figure said, pushing Marie inside and shutting the door behind her.

_Nice catch, Kate Potter!  _


	14. The Master Rises

**Yep.  I'm the one who hadn't read the books.  They're read now (what I was doing on the days between chapters) but I had the story all planned out when I started; so it didn't change anything.  In other words, the stuff that was wrong is probably all still in there.** Chapter 13.  The Master Rises 

Marie came over and knelt beside Harry.  His eyes were glassy, and he didn't seem to know where he was.  

"Harry," she said, giving his cheek little slaps to snap him out of his trance.  

He blinked, but that was all.  His eyes were still fixed in blind fear on the doorway, where a dementor was watching them through a small hole.  

Marie moved to block Harry's view and shook him.  "Harry."  

He blinked again, and his eyes lost that glassy look.  

"Harry?  It is Harry, isn't it?" Marie asked, anxiously.  

He nodded, let out a weak laugh and said, "You're immune to dementors, too?"  

She glanced back and said, "They freak me out, but not as bad, I guess."  

"Just keep between us.  You weaken their hold enough so that I can think," he said.  

"All right," she answered, shifting to a more comfortable sitting position.  

He glanced over her shoulder at the dementor and said ruefully, "I can't believe I was so stupid.  I should have just told Ron and Hermoine everything from the start."  

"You must have had a good reason not to at the time."  

"I… I had a dream.  I knew you would turn up at Hogsmeade, that I had to protect you because you were the key to it all, and that I would be betrayed by someone I trusted.  The problem was, I didn't know who the betrayer would be.  I talked Snape into going to help out at the Ministry while I took his place here, because I thought going in disguise would make it harder for anyone out there plotting.  Boy, was _I ever wrong."  _

He looked as though he were slipping into despair again, so Marie said quickly, "The person has the E'Chode now, and made me open up some kind of room.  We need to get out of here and stop the whatever from happening.  Can you do magic, you know, without your wand?"  

"I can, but not on purpose.  Just when I'm really upset," Harry answered, doubtfully.  

"You're not upset now?" Marie asked, raising an eyebrow.  

Harry managed a small smile.  

"Hold on a second," Marie said, getting an idea.  She went over to the door and pressed on it, seeing if there was some magic catch she could force to open.  "No luck," she said, sitting back down.  

"Worth a try," he answered bravely.  

"You have anything in your pockets at all?" she asked.  

He reached into his robes and pulled out the fanged Frisbee.  It started snarling and spitting.  The noise attracted the dementor, who entered the room.  Harry tossed the Frisbee at his head, and while the dementor tried to pull the biting object off his arm Harry dragged Marie out through the door and slammed it behind them, trapping the dementor inside.  

"That works," Marie commented.  

"Get out of here.  Find some way of contacting Ron and Hermoine.  I'm going to put a stop to this," Harry said, pushing up his sleeves.  

"No way," was Marie's quick response.  Harry looked as though he might get angry, but Marie insisted, "I'm not leaving you here alone.  You don't even know where you're going, and you can't fend off dementors _at all.  I'll be your shield in case anyone gets any bright ideas."  _

Harry shook his head.  "Too dangerous.  You're still hurt, and besides, we don't know how strong your defense against magic really is," Harry explained patiently.  

"Well, since both of us are definitely behind on points here, and this definitely isn't a snowball fight, the way I see it neither of us has the right to give orders.  The only way to get around that problem is to work as a team," Marie said, a bit of playfulness in her voice.  

Harry racked his brain for some excuse to make her leave, and was finally forced to nod reluctantly.  He said softly, "I'm sorry I got you into this mess."  

"Cloak person got us into this mess.  And if we're going to blame anyone, it should be me.  If I weren't such a freak show, we wouldn't have this problem in the first place.  Believe me, _none of this is your fault," Marie said firmly.  _

Harry was stunned to hear his own secret thoughts about himself echoed back to him, but before he could say anything more Marie spoke.  

"It's this way," she said, pulling on his elbow.

It took a bit longer to find her way back down to the cavern than Marie had planned on; she had forgotten a few of the turns and they had to backtrack.  She was afraid Harry would get upset, but he remained patient, though anxious.  They also had to sneak past a few dementors, all of which caused Harry to start sweating and gasping so loudly for air that Marie was all but certain they'd be caught.  Finally they found themselves back in the large chamber, with the stone doorway standing alone in darkness.  They could see a figure tied spread eagle on the floor in the magic room, with the E'Chode arranged in a square around him.  

"That's Neville Longbottom!  I didn't even know he was missing," Harry whispered.  

A voice not Neville's own arose from the vessel's mouth, reciting an incantation.  Harry recognized the voice as Voldemort's.  The cloaked figure stood nearby, repeating the incantation back with the appropriate magic behind it, and the E'Chode pulsed with every word.  Harry and Marie could both see the spell cloud forming over Neville, and the dark form of Voldemort's spirit surrounding him and being drawn into his body like liquid into a sponge.  

"That thing's possessing him, isn't it?" Marie asked anxiously.  

"I've got to stop it," Harry said, darting forward.  

"No!" Marie hissed, grabbing at his cloak.  

He pulled away.  

Voldemort's spirit saw Harry's rapid approach through the doorway.  "Look out, you fool!"  

The cloaked figure wheeled on Harry, pointing her wand at him, and Harry saw the servant's face for the first time.  

"Cho," he said lamely, stunned.

Cho Chang looked just as startled to see Harry as he was to see her.  

"Kill him!" Voldemort roared.  

Harry and Cho started wrestling for the control of the wand.  

"Master!  Give me the rest of the spell, so that you may rise!" Cho called to the spirit as she fought.  

"Cho, _what are you doing?" Harry yelled.  _

"Say Corpus Levidiucus three times, then speak my name!" Voldemort shrieked.  

"_You don't understand, Harry.  You don't know what it means to find someone who understands you," Cho was trying to say in a muffled voice.  She managed to turn with the wand and get out one "Corpus Livedicus!"  _

"No!" Harry shrieked.  

"Stop her!" Voldemort screamed, as Marie started across the room for the square of stones.  

Cho clawed frantically at Harry's face as she tried to train her wand on Marie.  There were voices coming from the stairwell.  

Harry recognized them.  "**Ron!  Hermoine!  Down here, quick!"  **

"**Harry!" Ron yelled back.  **

"Oh my God, **Harry!" Hermoine's voice echoed, accompanied by the sound of running feet.  **

Cho took advantage of the distraction to shove Harry aside.  Since he was standing between her and Marie, she settled for another "Corpus Levedicus!"  

Marie was almost to Neville's prone form.  

"**_CHANG!" Voldemort roared.  _**

Ron and Hermoine appeared in the doorway.  "Stupefy!"  "Expelliarmus!"  

"Corpus Levedicus Cedric Diggory!" Cho managed before the spells threw her to the ground.  

"_What?!" Harry exclaimed.  _

"**_TRAITOR!" Voldemort screamed, as Marie threw herself into the square.  _**

She lay on top of Neville, the power of the magic field causing her to shake all over.  She was evidently  strong enough to keep any invaders out of Neville's body, but not strong enough to dispel Voldemort's shadowy form or the much lighter, fainter form approaching behind it.  

"Harry!" Ron said, holding up the wand he had taken from Harry when he was arrested.  

"Accio wand!" Harry called, and his wand sped into his hand.  

Ron, Hermoine, and Harry stood together in a line between Voldemort and Cho.  Voldemort's eyes flicked nervously across their faces, down to Marie and Neville, and back towards the glowing gap behind him, where the ghost of Cedric waited patiently.  "Ready," Harry said firmly.  They brought up their wands, and Harry could see Cedric gathering all his ghostly energy around him.  

The four of them spoke the banishment charm as one with all the power they could muster.  "**_Deaccium!"  _**

The power of the four wizard combined with the amplified magic zone created by the E'Chode threw Voldemort back into Cedric and through the glowing hole, which promptly sealed.  

The echo of the spell Voldemort threw at them before he disappeared rang through the chamber.  Harry didn't recognize the spell, but he got the general idea when the building started to shake violently.  

"Oh, my," Neville said, coming fully awake to the sight of four wizards gathered around him and a muggle lying on his chest.  

Harry gathered Marie into his arms as Ron dragged Neville to his feet at Hermoine scooped up the E'Chode.  Cho, sobbing bitterly, ran with them towards the exit and up the stairs.  Dementors were running wildly, and prisoners screamed mindlessly in their cells.  They felt the prison tip and shake, followed by the sinking feeling that always accompanies a long fall.  The shaking caused the group to fall to their knees and they pressed up against one of the walls for protection, certain that this was the end.  

There was a loud crash, followed suddenly by darkness and an eerie silence.  Everyone sat, stunned, taking deep breaths and pinching him or herself to make sure they were still alive.  

Ron finally broke the tension by saying, "Guess that about does it for the basement."  

The rest of the group laughed with nervous relief.  

"Is everyone all right?" Hermoine asked.  

"This is Azkaban, isn't it?  Oh, no, did I do something wrong, then forgot?" Neville's voice said nervously from somewhere to Harry's right.  

"We'll explain everything to you later, Neville," Ron said.  

"Well then, time to get the E'Chode back where they belong.  I'm sure the Ministry will be pleased to hear they no longer have to worry about boundary breaches," Hermoine said cheerfully to break the silence.  

"What about her?" Ron said, indicating Cho.  

She looked fearfully at the faces and managed to gasp between sobs, "I… only… _pretended… to go along.   I just wanted… __Cedric back."  _

"By wiping Neville clean in the process?" Hermoine said sternly.  

Cho shook her head, her face stained with tears.  "I didn't think… You were there," she said futilely to Harry.  

Harry looked up at her, not quite following her train of thought.  

"_You were there when he died!  You know what that feels like!  I meant to tell you, I thought you would **help me!" Cho shrieked.  **_

Harry looked away, both out of revulsion at what she almost did and the sick feeling in his stomach that said he really _might have helped.  _

"I thought you would help me…" she repeated.  Her voice trailed off.  

"Voldemort had her under his control.  She didn't know what she was doing," Harry said quietly.  

"I know.  But she'll still have to stand trial.  Wizard law," Hermoine said quietly.  

Harry looked down at Marie.  She was still breathing, but she felt light in his arms and her skin was an ashy gray.  He felt her forehead.  She was cooling rapidly under his fingers.  

"We have to get Marie to a hospital," he said.

**Epilogue will be posted tomorrow.**


	15. Epilogue

**Last chapter!  Thanks for the reviews, everyone!** Epilogue 

Marie didn't know how long she had been asleep or where she was when she woke up.  Everything was stark white.  Then she recognized the sterile environment as a hospital room.  She was nowhere near as sore as she had been, and she took a peek at her injuries.  They were almost healed.  

"Hey, you're up," Stephanie's voice said from the doorway.  

"How long have I been here?"  

"Um, a while.  The doctors weren't sure you were going to wake up.  Most of the other people on the bus have gone home."  

"Where's Erin?"  

"Getting food.  What else would she be doing?" Stephanie answered wryly.  

Erin appeared in the doorway with two candy bars and a soda.  "Evil toad," she said, by way of greeting.  

"What happened to Harry?  And Ron and Hermoine?" Marie asked.  

"Who?" Stephanie said.  

"The wizards," Marie answered.  

Stephanie coughed, and Erin's eyes lit up eagerly at the thought that her friend might have gone crazy.  

"You were there.  You remember," Marie said indignantly.  

"There Are No Wizards.  The bus skidded on a patch of ice, and you've been here at the hospital in a coma ever since," Stephanie said slowly and carefully.  

"Are you sure you should keep reading that stuff?  I mean, if it's polluting your brain," Erin said cheerfully.  

"I _dreamed it?" Marie said, disappointed.  _

"Yeah," Stephanie said, relieved that Marie had decided not to insist on arguing the point.  

Stephanie and Erin then proceeded to tell Marie about their trip to various English sites while she was in the hospital.  Stephanie described Stonehenge and Hadrian's Wall ("Wall?  It was like two feet high," Erin complained) in great detail, and Erin gleefully described the cute waiters at the Hard Rock and tormenting the docents at the Tower of London.  She also kept pressing Marie eagerly for details of her dream, but Marie declined.  After a while, both girls left to let Marie get some rest.  

Marie rested her head on the pillow and ran the dream through her head over and over.  The prison… the snowball fight… Dumbledore… Harry on a broomstick…  

She stopped, realization dawning on her.  _She had seen Harry on a broomstick, **before she got on that bus.  They cast some sort of spell to make the others forget, but they couldn't do that with her, so the next best thing was to make her think it was all a dream.  But that was a ridiculous plan, Harry had seen her watching him, he must have…  Then it dawned on her.  Harry didn't tell them.  A smile spread slowly across her face.  **__Harry didn't tell them.  _

"Harry, you're the best," Marie said to herself with a laugh.

Marie was released from the hospital the next day, which didn't make much difference since all she was doing was going back the hotel, packing up her belongings, and leaving.  Stephanie was running around playing drill sergeant, Erin was whining that she couldn't find her lotion, and Marie was looking out the room window onto the busy street.  The Leaky Caldron was still there, looking as enigmatic as ever.  She noticed, with some amusement, that no one walking by even seemed to know it was there.  

Marie quietly slipped an envelope and a sheet of paper into her coat pocket.  "I'm done packing.  You want me to go downstairs and check out?"  

"What?" Stephanie said, peeking out from the bathroom.  

"You want me to turn in the key?" Marie said.  

"Oh, yeah.  We're almost done here.  Get a cab while you're at it."  

Marie went downstairs with her backpack and suitcase, turned in the key, and scribbled a quick note on the sheet of paper in her pocket before folding it in half and stuffing it into the envelope.  She addressed the letter to _Mr. Harry Potter C/O The Leaky Caldron Diagon Alley, London.  She left her luggage in Stephanie's able hands and went across the street to slip the letter under the door.  Erin noticed Marie slipping an envelope in what looked like to her a crack between two buildings and giggled evilly as Marie returned.  _

"Shut up," was Marie's response.

"…And the rest you know," Harry said.  

He was sitting across from Ron at their usual table at the Leaky Caldron.  Ron had his hand around Hermoine's waist, and she managed to look both very flattered and smug at the same time.  Harry grinned across the table at them.  He had never seen the two of them look so happy.  They were right for each other, they really were.  

"Still no word on Draco?" Ron asked.  

Harry shook his head.  "No.  Cho admitted to using the Imperius curse on him, but insisted he killed Snape and started the Hogsmeade riots on his own.  I wouldn't be a bit surprised if tracking him down was my next assignment."  

"Seems a bit convenient to me," Ron muttered.  

Hermoine shushed him and said, "We're having the American Wizarding Association keep an eye on Marie, just in case."  

Harry nodded absently.  

Hermoine noticed Harry's sudden quiet, and changed the subject.  "You said you wanted not to be spotted at Hogwarts.  Why didn't you simply wear your invisibility cloak?"  

"I wanted the freedom to interact with people, ask questions.  Anyone I talked to wearing the cloak would know who I was right off, and I didn't know who I could trust," Harry said.  

He paused and took a sip from his mug.  "And I forgot it," he admitted, turning the slightest shade of red.  

Ron laughed.  Hermoine nodded crisply, as though it was what she suspected all along. 

"I also wanted to apologize.  We've been through so much together, and..." Harry said.  

"We forgive you, Harry," Hermoine said.  

Ron nodded energetically.  

"Just out of curiosity, when did you put it together?" Harry asked.  

"Not until we got to Azkaban.  I pulled out your wand by mistake and Hermoine recognized it.  Then everything just fell into place," Ron said. 

"Harry.  Letter dropped off for you," Tom, the barkeeper interrupted, handing Harry an envelope.  

"Thank you," Harry answered.  

"What's it say, then?" Ron asked as Harry opened the envelope and read the paper inside.  

"Just Auror business," Harry said in a bored, authoritative voice worthy of Percy.  

He stuffed Marie's note into his pocket and grinned into his mug as he took a sip.  

The End 

**I also wrote a short (3 pages) HP fic called "The Interview," if anyone's interested.**


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